1        V 


■kum*t^^R 


^^^Si5<S^<i5i5iic^i^t><*St)^^^JiK^ 


t:»,<.A  V  c.i, 


^ 


4' 


tA^ya 


I 


University  of  California. 

FROM   THE    I.TBKAKV   OF 

DR.    FRANCIS    LIEBER, 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

THK  GIFT  OF 

MICHAEL    REESE, 

0/  SiJH  Francisco. 
1S73. 


^.'.    ^    V 


I 


REYOLUTIOJS^S 


IN 


ENGLISH  HISTORY, 


> 


BY 


ROBERT    VAUGHAN,    D.D 


VOL.  I. 

REVOLUTIONS  OF  RACE. 


NEW  YORK: 

D.    APPLETON^     &     COMPAISTY, 

346   &  348   BKOADWAY. 

1860. 


\ 


I 


PEEFACE. 


XN  this  work  the  reader  will  not  find  everything  he 
-*"  would  expect  to  find  in  a  publication  bearing  the 
title  of  a  History  of  England.  But  it  is  intended  that 
these  pages  shall  include  so  much  of  the  past  as  will  suf- 
fice to  give  full  presentation  and  prominence  to  the  great 
changes  in  the  history  of  this  country,  showing  whence 
they  have  come,  what  they  have  been,  and  whither  they 
have  tended.  My  narrative,  accordingly,  while  not  de- 
scribed as  a  History  of  England,  is  designed  to  serve  the 
purpose  for  which  all  such  histories  have  been  profess- 
edly written.  English*  history  embraces  much  in  com- 
mon with  the  history  of  Europe,  together  with  much 
that  has  been  characteristic  of  itself;  and  it  is  reasonable 
that  Englishmen  should  be  more  interested  in  what  has 
been  special  to  their  country,  than  in  details  which  might 
have  had  their  place  in  the  history  of  any  one  among  a 
large  family  of  states.  The  question  to  which  this  work 
is  designed  to  present  an  answer  is — What  is  it  that  has 


IV  PREFACE. 

made  England  to  be  England  ?  My  object  is  to  conduct 
the  reader  to  satisfactory  conclusions  in  relation  to  this 
question,  by  a  road  much  more  direct  and  simple  than  is 
compatible  with  the  laws  to  which  the  historian  usually 
conforms  himself  when  writing  the  general  history  of  a 
nation.  Our  busy  age  needs  some  assistance  of  this 
nature. 

But  while  the  spirit  of  our  times  is  sufficiently  dis- 
posed to  appreciate  directness  and  compression  in  author- 
ship, it  is,  I  am  aware,  by  no  means  disposed  to  accept 
superficiality  in  the  place  of  thoroughness.  I  do  not 
affect  to  be  unacquainted  with  what  modern  Avriters  have 
published  on  English  history ;  but  it  is  only  due  to  my- 
self to  state,  that  on  no  point  of  importance  in  relation 
to  my  object,  have  I  allowed  myself  to  be  dependent  on 
such  authorities.  In  many  instances,  when  I  have  con- 
tented myself  with  citing  a  modern  author,  it  has  not 
been  until  after  an  examination  of  the  sources  adduced 
in  support  of  his  statements.  It  has  been  my  earnest 
wish  that  this  work  should  be  the  result  throughout  of  a 
fair  measure  of  independent  research  and  of  independent 
thought. 

The  sense  in  which  I  use  the  term  *  Revolution ' 
scarcely  needs  explanation.  The  word  is  meant  to  com- 
prehend the  great  phases  of  change  in  oiu*  history,  due 
place  being  assigned  to  the  great  cause  in  regard  to  each 
of  them.  Down  to  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
change  among  us  comes  mainly  from  the  conflicts  of 
race.     Under  the  Tudors,  the  great  principle  of  revolu- 


PREFACE. 


tion  is  religion ;  under  the  Stuarts,  that  principle  gives 
place  considerably  to  the  principles  of  government.  The 
first  question  to  be  settled  was  the  question  of  race ;  the 
next  concerned  the  national  faith ;  and  the  next  the  fu- 
ture of  the  English  Constitution.  Many  causes  contrib- 
uted to  the  strength  of  these  leading  causes  of  action, 
but  through  their  respective  periods  these  are  felt  to  be 
leading  causes,  and  the  effects  which  flow  from  them  are 
all  more  or  less  impressed  by  them.  In  the  progress  of 
Great  Britain  since  1688,  no  single  cause  has  acquired 
the  prominence  of  the  causes  above  mentioned. 

In  taking  up  such  a  theme  as  the  Revolutions  in 
English  History,  it  is  probable  that  no  two  writers  would 
be  agreed  as  to  the  best  method  of  dealing  with  it — or 
as  to  the  principle  that  should  determine  the  selection  of 
material,  and  where  to  stop.  On  these  points,  and  on 
many  beside,  I  have  to  throw  myself  on  the  candour  of 
the  reader.  The  course  I  have  taken  has  been  chosen 
after  the  best  thought  I  could  bestow  on  the  subject. 
In  the  further  prosecution  of  my  object,  I  hope  to  avail 
myself  freely  of  the  rich  material  in  the  State  Paper 
Office,  still  in  manuscript,  and  which,  thanks  to  the  pres- 
ent Master  of  the  Rolls,  is  becoming  more  accessible 
every  day  for  the  purposes  of  history. 


Heath  Lodge,  Uxbeidge, 
1859. 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  I. 

CELTS    AND    ROMANS. 


CHAPTEE    I. 


THE    EAELY    INHABITAXTS    OF    BEITAIN. 


Prehistoric  period, 
Phoenicia,     . 
Phoenician  history, 
Greek  testimony, 
Voyage  of  Himilco, 
Polybius, 

Diodorus — ^Strabo, 

Britain  as  described  by  the 

Romans, 


PAGE 
1 

2 
3 
3 
4 
5 
6 


Ancient  British  states,  . 
Races  of  ancient  Britain, . 
Caledonians  — ^  Picts      and 

Scots,    . ,  . 
Question    of    a    Pre-Celtic 

race, 

Physical  features  of  the  an 

cient  Britons,  . 


PAGE 

8 
9 

10 

11 

11 


CHAPTEE    II, 


EEVOLUTION  BY   THE   SWOED. 


Rome  in  the  time  of  Ca)sar, 
Caisar's    policy  in    invading 

Britain,     . 
News-vending      in      ancient 

Eome,       .       .       . 
Caesar's  preparations, 
The  landing, 
Submission  and  revolt, 
Second  submission,  . 
Second  invasion, 
Military  operations,  . 
Cassivelaunns,     . 
Departure  of  Oajsar,  . 
British  resistance. 
Subsequent  progress, 
Caligula's  expedition, 
Plautius  and  Claudius, 
Plautius  and  Ostorius, 
Defeat  of  the  Icenians,    . 
Caractacus  and  the  Silures, 


14 

15 

15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
28 
28 
29 


Caractacus  in  Eome, . 
The  Britons  not  subdued, 
Suetonius,     .... 
Slaughter  of  the  Druids,  . 
Roman  oppression,    . 
Revolt  under  Boadicea,  . 
Massacre  of  the  Romans, 
Slaughter  of  the  Britons, 
Julius  Agricola,  . 
The  Caledonians, 
Battle  of  Ardoch, 
Conquest  completed, 
Adrian  and  Antoninus,    . 
Comraodus — disorder, 
Campaign — wall  of  Severus, 
The  Scots — Carausius,     . 
Theodosius — Maximus,    . 
Departure  of  the  Romans, 
Work  of  the  sword  in  Brit 


am, 


31 
82 
82 
38 
35 
35 
36 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
44 
45 
46 
48 
49 

49 


vm 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   III. 

EFFECT    OF   THE    ASCENDENCY    OF   THE    ROMANS    IN  BRITAIN    ON 
GOVERNMENT. 


PAGB 

Celtic  popular  assemblies,      .      51 
Kings  —   Revenue   —   The 


Druids, 


Roman  government, . 
Roman  colonization, . 
Provinces  in  Britain, 


52 
53 
53 
54 


Colonies — Municipia — Latian 

towns, 55 

The  prefect  and  procurator,  .  56 

Revolution  in  government,    .  57 

Roman  force  in  Britain,  .       .  59 


CHAPTER    IV. 

REVOLUTION   IN    RELIGION. 


British  Druidism,      ...  GO 

Doctrine  of  the  Druids,  .      .  61 

Sacred  groves,     ....  62 

Religious  rites,    ....  63 
The    Romans    intolerant    of 

Druidism,        ....  63 

Christianity,        .       .       .       .  64 

Fictions  and  misconceptions,  65 


Legend  of  King  Lucius,  .      .  67 

The  probable  truth,  ...  69 

Persecution  under  Diocletian,  70 

Council  of  Aries,      ...  71 

Pelagius  and  Celestius,    .       .  72 

Lupus  and  Germanicus,  .       .  73 

Summary,     .       .      .      .       .  73 


CHAPTER    V. 


EFFECT   OF   THE   ROMAN   ASCENDENCY  ON   SOCIAL   LIFE. 

End  of  Druidism — Fine  arts 

— General  culture, 
Roman  cities  in  Britain,  . 
Influence  of  Roman  cities. 
Revolution  in  manners,  . 
Caesar  on  British  morals. 
Summary,  .... 
Distribution  of  race,  . 


Agriculture, 

75 

Clothing— Art,   . 

76 

Impediments  to  British  civi- 

lization,    .... 

78 

British  earthworks,  . 

78 

Roman  civilization,  . 

80 

Mines— Coals — Metals,    . 

81 

Roman  roads, 

81 

Educated  life,      .      .      . 

82 

83 
84 
85 
86 
87 
89 
93 


BOOK  II. 

SAXONS    AND    DANES. 


CHAPTER   I. 

SOURCES   OF    ANGLO-SAXON   HISTORY. 


British  authorities,   ...  95 
Gildas— Nennius,      ...  97 
Scandinavian  poetry  and  tra- 
dition,         98 

Anglo-Saxon  writers — Bode,  99 


Saxon  Chronicle,       ...      99 
Ancient  laws,     .       .       .       .100 
Anglo-N'orman  writers,  .      .     101 
Authority    of     the    Anglo- 
Norman  writers,   .     •:      .102 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    MIGRATION. 


PAGE 

Britain  aa  Je^t  by  the  Romans,     104 
Picts  and  Scots, .      .      .      .104 
Repulsed  by  the  Britons,       .     105 
Final  departure  of  the  Ro- 
mans,      106 

Picture  of  Britain  by  Gildas,     106 


The  Saxons, .... 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  . 
Saxon  and  British  accounts, 
Rise  of  the  Octarchy, 
British  resistance. 
Summary,     .... 


PAGB 

lor 

109 
110 

111 

112 
112 


CHAPTER     III. 

RISE   OF   THE   ENGLISH  MONARCHY — EGBERT. 


Anglo-Saxon  wars,    . 
Design  of  the  Saxon  invaders. 
Office  of  Bretwalda, . 
The  Heptarchy,  . 
Northumbria, 
Mercia,  .... 
Offa  and  Charlemagne, 


114 
115 
115 
117 
118 
119 
120 


Murder  of  Ethelbert, 

.     121 

Progress  of  Wessex,  . 

.     122 

Cedwalla— Ina,  . 

122 

Egbert, 

124 

Elective  monarchy,    . 

125 

Why  continued,  . 

125 

Tendencies  towards  unity, 

126 

CHAPTER    IV. 


RISE   OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY — ATHELSTAN. 


"VVessex,    Mercia,    and    Nor- 

Danes  in  Wessex, 

137 

thumbria, .... 

128 

Alfred  at  Reading,    . 

138 

Danger  from  the  Danes,  . 

129 

Ashdune,      .... 

138 

Descent  of  the  Danes, 

129 

Progress  of  the  Danes,    . 

140 

Causes  of  the  movement. 

130 

Alfred's  retreat,  , 

142 

Intentions  of  the  Danes,  . 

131 

Battle  of  Ethadune, . 

143 

Ragnar  Lodbrog, 

133 

Treaty  with  Guthorm,     . 

143 

Inguar  and  Ubbo, 

134 

Invasion  under  Hastings, 

145 

Check  at  Nottingham,     . 

135 

Edward  and  Athelstan,  . 

146 

Battle  of  Kesteven,  . 

135 

Battle  of  Brunanburgh,  . 

146 

Danish  ravages,  . 

136 

Athelstan  king  of  England, 

147 

King  Edmund,    . 

137 

CHAPTER    y. 

RISE   OP   THE  DANISH  MONARCHY. 


Edmund  succeeds  Athelstan,  148 
Insurrection,       ....  149 
Ed wy— Edgar,    .       .       .       .  149 
Edward  the  Martyr — Ethel- 
red  the  Unready,  .       .       .  150 


Massacre  of  the  Danes,  .  .  151 
Edmund  Ironside,  .  .  .154 
Canute  becomes  king,      .       .     156 

Retrospect, 156 

Ancient  and  modern  England,    157 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

EFFECT   OF   THE   SAXON   AND   DANISH   CONQUESTS   ON   THE   DISTEIBUTIONS 

OF   EACE. 


PAGE 

Diversities  of  race,  .  .  .159 
Location  of  the  Britons,  .  .  161 
The  Angles  in  Northumbria,     163 


PAGB 

Location  of  the  Danes,    .      .164 
Norwegians  in  Cumberland, .    165 


CHAPTER    YIL 

BEVOLUTION  IN   RELIGION   IN   ANGLO-SAXON  BRITAIN. 


Religion — its  potency,     . 

Saxon  heathendom,  .       .       . 

Odin  worship  —  Other  dei- 
ties,   .      .      . 

Story  of  Balder,  .      .      .      . 

Evil  deities— Fates,  . 

Worship, 

Summary  on  Saxon  heathen- 
dom, .       .      .       .      . 

Christianity,       .      .      .       . 

Augustine,    .       .       . 

The  British  bishops, . 

lona  and  its  missionaries, 

Aidan, 


169 

Work    of   Scottish    mission- 

ITO 

aries  in  England,  . 

188 

Progress  of  Christianity, 

189 

171 

The  new  faith  not  pure,  . 

192 

173 

The  old  faith  and  the  new, 

193 

174 

Results  from  this  revolutioi] 

175 

in  religion, 

194 

Priestly  power,  . 

195 

177 

Policy  of  the  clergy, 

196 

179 

Life  of  Wilfrid,  .       .       . 

199 

181 

Odo  and  St.  Dunstan, 

206 

183 

Edwy  and  Elgiva,     . 

209 

186 

Better  effects  of  Christianity, 

211 

187 

Bede,  Biscop,  and  Aidan, 

218 

CHAPTER    VIII. 


REVOLUTION  IN   GOVERNMENT   IN   ANGLO-SAXON  BRITAIN. 


Feudal  relations,  .  .  .216 
Landholding,  .  .  .  .219 
Confederations  of  settlers,  .  220 
Local  government,  .  .  .  221 
Free  and  the  Not-free,  .  .  221 
Noble  by  birth  and  by  service,     224 

The  family, 226 

The  tithing  and  hundred,.  .  227 
The  wergild,  ....  229 
The  Witanagemote,  .      .      .229 


Shires  and  people,     .       .       .  232 

Different  holdings  of  land,     .  232 

Rise  of  towns,    ....  233 

Government  in  towns,     .       .  235 

The  king, 236 

The  king's  household,      .       .  237 

Jurors  and  compurgators,      .  237 

Trial  by  ordeal,  .      .      .      .  238 
Summary  of  the  revolution 

in  government,      .      .      .  239 


CHAPTER    IX. 

REVOLUTION  IN    SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   ANGLO-SAXON   BIUTAIN. 


Agi'ioulture,      .      .        .      .  241 

Draining  and  embankments,  242 

Handicraft  and  foreign  trade,  243 

Intellectual  life,  ....  244 

Music  and  poetry,     .      .      .  245 


Prose  literature 247 

Culture  of  the  Danes,     ^     .  248 
Science  in  Anglo-Saxon  iBrit- 

ain 250 


CHAPTER    X, 

CONCLUSION. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  III. 

NORMANS    AND    ENGLISH. 


CHAPTEK    I. 


THE   NOEMA^TS    IN   NOEMANDT. 


The  !N"ormans,  .... 

Northmen  in  France, 

Rollo,  first  duke  of  I^^ormandy, 

William  I.,  Eichard  I.  and  II. 

Richard  III.,  Robert  the  Devil, 

William  the  Conqueror,  . 

Society  in  Normandy, 

Christianity,        .... 

Defective  civilization  of  the 
Normans, 

Norman  legislation  and  gov- 
ernment,   


PAGE 

256 

Origin  of  chivalry,    . 

PAei 

265 

257 

Character  of  the  Normans,    . 

265 

258 

Story  of  Harold's  pledge  to 

259 

William, 

266 

260 

Death  of  the  Confessor,  . 

267 

260 

Landing  of  William,  . 

268 

261 

Tostig  and  Hardrada, 

269 

262 

Battle  of   Stamford  Bridge, 

270 

Harold's  limited  resources,    . 

273 

263 

William's  proposal,   . 

273 

Harold's  reply,   ... 

274 

265 

Battle  of  Hastings,    .      .      . 

275 

CHAPTER    XL 

THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  EELATION  TO  PEOPEETY. 


Submission  of  the  English,    .  279 

William's  coronation,      .       .  279 

His  pretensions, ....  280 

Displacement  of  the  Saxons  281 

Distribution  of  manors,  .       .  281 


Opinion  of  Selden  and  Hale, 
Feudal  tenures,  .... 
Knight  service  and  soccage,  . 
Military     power — State      of 


towns. 


283 
284 
284 

285 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  COXQIJEST  IX  ITS  EELATION  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 


Why  the  battle  of  Has- 
tings was  so  decisive,  . 

Subsequent  resistance,     . 

Siege  of  Exeter, 

State  of  the  north,    .       . 

William's  devastation, 

Removal  of  the  Saxon 
clergy, 

Anglo-Norman  clergy,     . 

Agricultural  population,  . 

Serfs  and  free  tenants,     . 

Confederation  at  Ely, 


Fate  of  the  Alfgars,  . 

296 

286 

Here  ward,    .... 

297 

287 

Death  of  Waltheof,  . 

298 

287 

Anglo-Saxon  women. 

299 

288 

Last  form  of  resistance,  . 

300 

289 

Change  in  English  feeling, 

300 

Cumberland  outlaws, 

302 

291 

Robin  Hood, 

303 

292 

Retrospect,  .... 

304 

293 

Rise  of  towns,    . 

306 

294 

Lord     Macaulay     and      the 

295 

Normans, 

307 

CHAPTER    lY. 

THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  EELATION  TO  GOVEENMENT. 


Common    law    and    statute 
law,    ....       .       .309 

Feudalism  in  England,     .       .     310 


Feudal  incidents,  .  .  .  310 
Meeting  at  Salisbury,  .  .311 
Rule  of  the  Conqueror,  .       .     312 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Laws  of  the  Confessor,  .  .312 
Trial  by  jury — its  origin,  .  314 
Jurors  and  taxation, .  .  .316 
Jurors  and  parliament,  .  .  317 
King's  court — and  council,  .  318 
Judicial  power  of  the  council,  819 
King's  relation  to  the  law,  .  320 
Itinerant  judges,  .  .  .  323 
Growth  of  popular  power,  .  323 
Two  great  principles,  .  .  825 
Source  of  authority  among  * 
the  Germans,  .      .      .      .825 


PAGE 

Judicial  corruption,  .       .       .  326 
Wealth  of  the  Crown,     .       .  328 
Subsidies — tenths     and      fif- 
teenths,       329 

Imports  and  exports,       .       .  329 

Good  from  the  Conquest,       .  330 
Distinctions    of    race    much 

eflfaced, 381 

Popular  liberty, .       .       .       .331 

King  John  and  the  barons,    .  332 

Magna  Charta,    .      .      .      .  335 


CHAPTER    V. 


THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  CHUECH. 


Spiritual  courts,         .       .  .  888 

Transubstantiation,  .       .  .  339 

Celibacy  of  the  clergy,    .  .  889 

Lanfranc,      .       .       .       .  .  840 

The  married  clergy,  .       .  .  843 

Anselm, 844 

His  dispute  with  Rufus,  .  .  345 

Henry  I. — Investitures,  .  .  346 

Exemption  of  monasteries,  .  350 


Thomas  a  Becket, 
Constitutions  of  Clarendon,  . 
Policy  of  the  crown. 
Progress  of  the  dispute, . 
Becket's  violence  and  death, 
Popular  feeling,  ... 
Result  of  the  controversy,     . 
Religion,      .       .       .       .     '. 
Religious  persecution. 


351 
355 
356 
357 
360 
360 
361 
361 
365 


CHAPTER    YI. 

THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  SOCIAL  LIFE. 


The     Conquest     injurious  to 

industry, 366 

Improvement — imports,  .       .  367 

The  Cinque  ports — the  Jews,  368 

Regulations  concerning  trade,  370 

History  of  Longbeard,    .       .  371 

Patronage  of  learning,    .       .  376 

Lay  schools,        ....  877 

Universities,       ....  377 


Arab  literature,  . 
Aristotle,      .... 
Anglo-Norman  historians, 
Civil  and  canon  law, 
Romance  literature, . 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  . 
Norman  architecture, 
Retrospect,  .... 


381 
381 
382 
883 
385 
387 
890 
391 


BOOK  IV. 

ENGLISH    AND    NORMANS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  WARS  OF  ENGLAND   ON  THE  ENGLISH  NATIONALITY. 


Henry  IIL— His  wars,     .      .  894 

Edward  I. — A  naval  victory,  395 

Invasion  of  France,  .       .       .  897 

Wars  of  Edward  L,  .      .      .  398 


Edward  IIL— Effect  of  his 
wars, .       .       .     -, .       .       .     400 

Henry  V. — Issue  of  wars 
with  France,  ....    403 


CONTENTS. 


xm 


OHAPTEE    II. 

INDUSTRIAL  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND   FROM   THE   DEATH   OF   KING  JOHN   TO  THE 
ACCESSION    OF    HENRY    IV. 


Progress  of  industrial  power, 

Impeded  by  piracy,  . 

Middle  Age  navy,     . 

IsTaval  triumphs, .... 

Trade  impeded  by  legisla- 
tion,   .       .       ... 

Prejudice  against  foreign 
merchants,       .... 

Introduction  of  weavers. 

Merchants  of  the  Staple, 


PAGE 

407 

Companies, 

PAGE 
413 

408 

The   English  engage   in    for- 

408 

eign  trade,        .... 

413 

409 

Agriculture,        .... 

414 

A  corn  law, 

416 

410 

Free  labour,        .... 

416 

Parliament  regulates  wages,  . 

417 

410 

Value  of  labour  in  the  four- 

411 

teenth  century. 

419 

412 

Retrospect, 

420 

CHAPTER    III. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND   FROM   THE   DEATH   OF  KING  JOHN   TO 
THE   ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   IV. 


The  English  language,     .       .  422 

French  metrical  romance,      .  424 

British  traditions,      .       .       .  425 

Vision  of  Fiers  Plowman,     .  427 

Chaucer, 428 

English    prose — Maundeville 
— Wycliffe,      .       .       .       .431 


Occleve  and  Lydgate,  .  .  433 
Progress  of  art,  .  .  .  434 
Comparative  rudeness  of  Mid- 
dle-age life,  ....  436 
The  universities,  .  .  .  437 
City  life, 437 


CHAPTER    lY. 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN   ENGLAND   FROM  THE   DEATH   OF   KING  JOHN   TO   THE 
ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   IV. 


Trade  and  freedom,  . 

439 

The  king's  council,    . 

489 

Representative  principle. 

440 

The  Great  Charter,  . 

441 

Its  immediate  effects. 

441 

First  House  of  Commons,      . 

444 

Rising  influence  of  towns,     . 

445 

Parliaments     under      Ed- 

ward I., 

446 

Hereford  and  Norfolk,     . 

449 

The  statute  De  Tallagio  non 

Goncedendo,     .... 

451 

Political     life     under     Ed- 

ward I., 

455 

Edward  as  a  legislator,    . 

457 

Parliaments      under      Ed- 

ward II., 

458 

Civil  war, 

46'>, 

Galveston, 

403 

The      Spencers — Battle      of 

Boroughbridge,      .       .       .  464 

Deposition  of  the  king,  .       .  465 
Edward    III. — settled    form 

of  parliament,  .  .  .  466 
Power  of  the  Commons, .  .  468 
Tonnage  and  poundage,  .  .  470 
Law  of  treason,  ....  471 
Liberties  gained,  .  .  .  472 
Historical  significance  of  par- 
liamentary history,  .  .  475 
Condition  of  the  people,  .  475 
Free  and  skilled  labour,  .  .  476 
The  English  aristocracy  not 

a  privileged  noMesse,    .       .  476 

Growth  of  independence,      .  477 

Condition  of  the  suffrage,      .  477 

Purveyance  grievances,  .       .  478 

Popular  discontent,  .       .       .  479 
Wat  Tyler,  .      ,       .      .      .480 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


OHAPTEE    V. 

RELIGIOUS  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND   FROM  THE   DEATH   OF   KING  JOHN  TO   THE 
ACCESSION   OF   HENRY   IV. 


Papal   power — Its   culminat- 

PAGE 

Social  life  in  the  counties. 

PAGE 

497 

ing  point, 

488 

Population  of  towns. 

497 

The    papacy  versus   the  na- 

The Franciscans, 

498 

tional  churches,     . 

484 

Become  city  missionaries. 

499 

Peter's  pence,      ... 

485 

Their  benevolence  and  suc- 

King John's  tribute, . 

485 

cess,   .      ... 

500 

The  custom  of  provisors. 

486 

Become  learned. 

501 

Commendams,  -  . 

488 

Rapid  deterioration, . 

503 

General  Corruptness, 

488 

Chaucer's  pictures  of  society. 

504 

Ecclesiastical  diplomacj, 

488 

Wycliffe, 

506 

Grostete, 

490 

Proceedings  against  him. 

509 

The  pope's  collectors. 

490 

Opposes     the     doctrine     of 

Eesistance,    under     Edward 

transubstantiation. 

511 

HI., 

491 

His  opinions,       .... 

511 

The  popes  at  Avignon,    . 

493 

Remonstrance   of  the  Wyc- 

Papal  schism,      .... 

494 

liffites, 

514 

Retrospect, 

495 

Impolicy  of  the  clergy,  . 

515 

Laws  in  revolutions, . 

495 

Retrospect,  .       .       . 

516 

BOOK  V. 

LANCASTER    AND    YORK. 


CHAPTER    I 

THE  REACTION. 


Accession  of  Henry  IV.,       .  518 

His  policy,    .       .       .      .       .  519 

Persecution, 519 

Sawtree  and  Badby,         .       .  520 
Reforming  spirit  of  the  Com- 
mons,          521 

Arundel's  constitutions,  .       .  523 

Lord  Cobham,    ....  525 


Persecutions  under    Chiche- 
ley,     ...       .       .      .525 

Excesses  of  the  reformers,     .    527 
Clergy  at  fault,  ....    527 

Reaction  in  Oxford,  .       .      .     528 
Decline  of  learning,  .       .       .     531 
The  aristocracy  during    the 
Civil  war,        .       .       .       .532 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    DAWN. 


English  constitution,       .       .  536 

Friars  and  the  Clergy,     .       .  537 
The  new  opinions  embraced 

by  clergymen,       .       .      .  540 


The  people,  .      .      .      .  .  541 

Some      encouragement  of 

learning,   .       ...  .  542 

The  duke  of  Gloucester, .  .  543 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


Earl  of  Worcester, 

Earl  Rivers, 

Lord  Littleton,    . 

Sir  John  Fortescue, 

State  of  science, . 

Printing, 

Probabilities  of  the  future,    . 

Historical  function  of  the 
papal  power,  .... 

Decline  of  the  papal  supre- 
macy,         

Policy  of  the  pontiffs, 


PAGE 

543 

544 
545 
545 
547 
549 
550 

550 

551 
552 


Corruption  general,  .  .  .  554 
Revival    of     literature    and 

art 555 

Leo  X, — Scepticism  in  Italy,  557 
Prospects  of  society  on  the 

opening   of    the    fifteenth 

century, 558 

Richard  IIL,  .  .  .  .560 
Accession  of   the  house  of 

Tudor, 560 

Rule  of  Henry  VIL,.      .      .  561 

His  ecclesiastical  policy, .      .  562 


BOOK   L 

CELTS   AISTD    ROMANS, 


CHAPTEE  I. 

THE   EAELY   II^HABITAIS^TS    OF   BEITAEN^. 

THE  man  who  treads  the  greensward  of  Dover  Cliff  for    book  i. 
c>                                                                             Chap.  i. 
the  first  time,  will  feel  that  before  him  is  the  passage     

which  must  have  been  made  by  some  of  the  earliest  settlers 
in  Britain.  The  white  coast  of  Gaul  stretches  along  in  the 
distance,  and  the  track  of  voyagers  in  the  unknown  past 
seems  to  be  still  upon  those  waters.  On  those  waters,  too^ 
the  dark  sides  and  the  floating  sails  of  the  multitude  of 
ships  under  the  command  of  Caesar  seem  to  be  still  visible. 
But  in  the  age  of  Caesar  many  centuries  must  have  j)assed 
since  the  first  rude  wicker-boat  grazed  its  oxhide  covering 
on  our  shore  and  landed  the  first  man.  Some  hundreds  of 
winters  must  then  have  come  and  gone  since  the  first  at- 
tempt was  made  to  penetrate  our  primeval  forests,  or  to 
compass  our  stagnant  marshes.  Far  back,  even  then,  must 
the  day  have  been  when  the  eye  of  man — that  probably 
half-naked  and  wondering  new-comer — fell  for  the  first  time 
on  the  waters  of  the  Thames  and  the  Humber,  the  Severn 
and  the  Mersey.  But  man  comes  in  his  season :  and  now 
the  day  will  come  when  the  borders  of  the  Tliames  shall  be 
no  longer  a  wilderness,  and  when  from  the  banks  of  the 
Vol.  I.— 1 


ii  CELTS    AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.    Mersey  other  sounds  sliall  be  heard  than  those  of  untamed 

animals  m  search  oi  prey. 

But  how  soon  change  by  the  hand  of  man  began  to 
make  its  appearance  in  Britain  is  a  point  on  which  we  can- 
not speak  with  exactness.  Rude  nations  do  not  write  his- 
tories, aiid  it  is  not  until  they  begin  to  cast  off  their  rude- 
ness that  civilized  nations  begin  to  write  history  for  them. 
We  know,  however,  that  the  merchants  of  Phoenicia  were 
the  people  to  open  the  first  communication  between  this  isl- 
and and  distant  countries.  It  is  the  commercial  spirit  that 
gives  to  Britain  her  place  for  the  first  time  in  history.  So 
we  were  called  from  our  obscurity  by  the  kind  of  enterprise 
which  was  to  be  the  source  of  our  ultimate  greatness. 

Phoenicia.  rj^^^Q  ^^pjp  Qf  ^j^g  coast  of  Syria  kuowu  to  the  ancients  as 

Phoenicia,  did  not  measure  much  more  than  a  hundred 
miles  in  length,  and  scarcely  twenty  in  breadth.  Along  the 
inland  border  of  Phoenicia  rose  the  snow-covered  mountains 
of  Lebanon,  with  their  slopes  and  ravines  darkened  here 
and  there  by  their  ancient  cedars.  From  those  highlands 
roots  were  sent  off  as  rocky  promontories  into  the  sea.  The 
coast  was  thus  broken  up  into  a  succession  of  bays,  which 
became  harbours,  and  fitting  places  for  fortresses  and  wall- 
ed cities.  Tlie  Phoenicians  knew  well  how  to  use  such  ad- 
vantages. As  the  mariner  spread  his  sail  in  front  of  the 
city  of  Aradus,  and  with  a  favouring  breeze  from  the  land, 
turned  the  high  prow  of  his  vessel  towards  Egypt,  every 
few  miles  placed  him  abreast  with  a  new  city.  Tripolis, 
Berytus,  Sidon,  Tyre — all  rose  thus  in  succession  from  the 
sea.  ■  The  land  between  those  cities  was  studded  with  cities 
of  less  importance,  and  with  villages.  Everywhere  the 
signs  of  industry  were  visible,  in  the  culture  of  the  field,  of 
the  vine,  and  of  the  olive.  The  relation  of  this  chain  of  cit- 
ies to  the  countries  eastward  of  them,  and  westward,  was 
for  many  centuries  the  same  with  that  of  the  great  cit- 
ies of  Italy  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Phoenicia  and  Italy  had 
their  place  at  about  the  middle  of  the  civilized  world  ;  and 
both  were  the  means,  in  their  time,  of  enabling  the  one  half 
of  the  human  family  to  interchange  commodities  with  the 
other  half. 


THE   EARLY   INHABITANTS    OF   BEITAIN.  3 

The  greatness  of  the  Phoenician  power  dates  from  a  book  i. 
thousand  years  before  the  age  of  Augustus.  Its  prosperity  -^'  ^ 
continued  unabated  during  the  first  half  of  that  intervaL  hmu^y^^ 
Its  ships  visited  every  shore  of  the  known  world,  and  often 
penetrated  into  the  unknown.  In  those  remote  times,  Phoe- 
nician navigators  made  their  way"  to  Cape  Finistere,  and 
learnt  to  strike  across  the  open  sea  to  Britain.  In  such  ad- 
ventures the  Cynosure,  the  last  light  in  the  Little  Bear,  was 
their  chosen  polestar.  The  Cynosure  beams  upon  us  as 
brightly  as  ever,  but  the  Phoenician  mariner  is  gone.  Great 
military  monarchies  are  bad  neighbours  to  small  commer- 
cial states.  It  is  in  the  nature,  also,  of  such  states,  that  they 
should  rely  too  much  on  the  aid  of  mercenaries — a  danger- 
ous weapon.  The  tendency  of  their  wealth,  too,  is  ever  to- 
wards concentration  and  oligarchy.  In  time,  the  few  who 
govern  become  divided  by  feuds  between  their  rival  houses, 
and  the  many  who  are  governed  become  lost  to  pa|:riotism. 
So  weakness  within  is  all  that  'remains  to  be  opposed  to 
strength  from  without.  From  these  causes  the  soldier  pow- 
er prevailed  at  length  in  the  history  of  Phoenicia  over  the 
merchant  poAver.  The  glory  of  the  past  became  wholly  of 
the  past.  In  modern  Tyre  the  fisherman  dries  his  nets  on 
the  ruins  of  ancient  palaces.* 

But  if  Phoenicia  was  the  first  to  discover  the  island  of  Greek  testi- 
Britain,  it  is  to  Greece  w^e  owe  the  first  literary  notices  con-  ™^°^ " 
corning  it.     When  Paul  preached  to  the  men  of  Athens  on 
Mars  Hill,  four  centuries  and    a   half  had   passed   since 
Herodotus  had   read   his  History  to  the  ancestors  of  the 
same  people.     That   number  of  years  in  our  own  history 

*  Xenoplion's  description  of  a  Phcenician  vessel  shows  that  the  Phoenicians 
greatly  excelled  the  Greeks  as  seamen.  '  The  best  and  most  accurate  arrange- 
ment of  things  I  ever  saw,  was  when  I  went  to  look  at  the  great  Phoenician  ship. 
For  I  saw  the  greatest  quantity  of  tackling  separately  disposed  in  the  smallest 
stowage.  You  know  that  a  ship  comes  to  anchor  or  gets  under  way  by  means  of 
many  wooden  instruments  and  many  ropes,  and  sails  by  means  of  many  sails,  and 
is  armed  with  many  machines  against  hostile  vessels,  and  carries  about  with  it 
many  cooks  for  the  crew,  and  all  the  apparatus  which  men  use  in  a  dwelHng-house 
for  each  mess.  Beside  all  this  the  vessel  is  filled  with  cargo,  which  the  owner 
carries  for  his  own  profit.  And  all  that  I  have  mentioned  lay  in  not  much  great- 
er space  than  will  be  found  in  a  chamber  large  enough  conveniently  to  hold  ten 
beds.  All  this  too  lay  in  such  a  way  that  they  did  not  obstruct  one  another,  so 
that  they  needed  no  one  to  seek  them,  and  there  were  no  knots  to  untie  and 
cause  delay,  if  they  were  suddenly  wanted  for  use.' — (Economicus.  Kemick's 
Phoenicia,  c.  vii. 


CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  1. 


Voyage  of 
Himilco. 


would  take  us  back  to  the  days  of  Henry  Y.  and  tlie  battle 
of  Agincourt.  Time  does  not  become  less  by  distance ; 
but,  like  all  other  objects,  it  seems  to  do  so.  In  the  age  of 
Herodotus  the  kings  of  Eome  had  all  passed  away,  and  the 
patricians  and  plebs  were  committed  to  their  great  struggle. 
But  the  historian,  while  he  makes  no  mention  of  Rome, 
deems  it  proper  to  state  that,  if  he  has  not  spoken  concern- 
ing '  the  islands  called  Cassiterides,  whence  tin  is  imported,' 
it  is  because  he  had  ^  no  certain  knowledge  of  them,' — a 
manner  of  expression  which  implies  that  the  things  rumored 
at  that  time  concerning  the  islands  so  named  must  have  led 
his  auditory  to  expect  information  on  that  subject.  That 
tin  and  amber  are  brought,  says  the  historian,  from  the 
extreme  parts  of  Europe  is  unquestionable.^  The  word 
Cassiterides  would  have  conveyed  no  meaning  to  a  Briton 
or  a  Gaul.  The  word  cassiteros  for  tin,  is  first  found  in 
Homer,  but  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  of  Greek  origin. 
There  is  no  room  to  doubt,  that  in  the  Scilly  Islands,  we 
have  the  remains  of  the  Cassiterides  of  Herodotus. 

Aristotle  flourished  a  century  later  tjian  Herodotus.  In 
a  passage  which  has  been  attributed  to  that  philosopher,  it 
is  said  that  beyond  the  Celtse  (Gaul)  there  are  '  two  very 
large  Islands  called  Britannic,  Albion,  and  lerne ; '  and 
that  near  to  Britain  there  are  not  a  few  small  islands.  Aris- 
totle might  readily  have  learnt  thus  much  from  the  Phoeni- 
cian seamen  of  his  time  ;  but  both  the  date  and  the  author- 
ship of  the  work  in  which  this  passage  is  found  are  doubtful.f 

It  was  while  Aristotle  was  teaching  at  Athens,  that  is,  in 
360  B.C.,  that  the  Carthaginians  sent  their  great  captain 
Himilco  into  these  regions  on  a  voyage  of  discovery.  Tliis 
navigator  explored  the  seas  and  coasts  of  Britain,  and  some 
fragments  from  the  report  made  by  him  have  reached  us. 
These  fragments  are  found  in  the  ancient  poem  of  Festus 
Avienus.  Himilco  is  there  made  to  speak  of  this  island, 
and  especially  of  the  point  where  the  sea  separates  the 
Land's  End  in  Cornwall  I'rom  the  island  beyond,  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  :  '  Here  rises  the  head  of  the  promontory,  in 
olden  times  named  (Estrymnon,  and  below,  the  like-named 

*  Hist.  lib.  iii.  §  115.  \  De  Mundo,  %  3. 


THE  EARLY   INHABITANTS   OF   BRITAIN.  5 

hay  and  isles  ;  wide  tliey  stretcli  and  are  ricli  in  metals,  tin  book  l 
and  lead.  Here  a  numerous  race  of  men  dwell,  endowed  ^^^' 
with  spirit,  and  with  no  slight  industry,  husied  all  in  the 
cares  of  trade  alone.  They  navigate  the  sea  in  their  barks, 
built,  not  of  pines  or  oak,  but,  strange  to  say,  made  of  skins 
and  leather.  Two  days  long  is  the  voyage  thence  to  the 
Holy  Island  (once  so  called),  which  lies  expanded  in  the 
sea,  the  dwelling  of  the  Hibernian  race ;  at  hand  lies  the 
isle  of  Albion.'* 

In  this  passage,  notwithstanding  some  obscure  expres- 
sions, there  is  a  clear  reference  to  the  Scilly  Islands,  to 
•Mount's  Bay,  and  Mount  St.  Michael.  In  our  maps,  the 
Scilly  Islands  consist  of  small  dots  sprinkled  at  various  dis- 
tances on  the  sea.  Albion,  which  is  still  near  to  those  isl- 
ands, was  then  no  doubt  much  nearer,  and  the  distance  to 
Hibernia  is  not  more  than  eighty  miles.  The  mines  of 
that  district  continue  to  yield  large  supplies  of  tin.  It  is 
not  found  anywhere  in  Britain  except  in  that  neighbourhood, 
and  in  a  few  places  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Devon.  Spain, 
also,  is  said  to  have  yielded  some  supplies  of  this  metal ; 
but  in  the  Scilly  Islands  we  see  the  Cassiterides  (the  tin  isl- 
ands) of  Herodotus. 

"With  the  testimony  of  the  Carthaginian  admiral  we  Poiybius. 
must  connect  that  of  a  Greek  general.  Between  Himilco 
and  Poiybius  there  is  the  lapse  of  two  centuries.  Himilco, 
however,  is  our  better  guide.  But  we  learn  from  Poiybius 
that  many  had  ^  discoursed  very  largely'  in  his  time  about 
the  gold  and  silver  mines  of  Spain,  and  about  '  the  Bri- 
tannic Isles  and  the  working  of  tin ; '  and  he  accounts  it 
necessary  to  offer  a  sort  of  apology  for  not  doing  something 
of  the  same  sort  himself  His  language  shows  very  clearly 
that  a  century  before  the  Roman  invasion,  and  among  those 
who  spoke  the  Greek  language,  enough  was  known  concern- 
ing Britain  to  make  intelligent  men  desirous  of  knowing 
more.f  "We  owe  something,  accordingly,  to  Poiybius,  a 
man  who  added  much  of  the  virtue  and  wisdom  of  a  sage, 
to  the  skill  and  courage  of  a  soldier  ;  but  we  owe  more  to 
that  ancient  mariner  who  was  the  first  to  survey  our  coast, 

*  Heeren's  Ancient  Nations.  f  Hist.  lib.  iii.  c.  57. 


O  CELTS   AND  EOMAXS. 

BOOK  I.   to  sound  our  shores,  and  to  become  familiar  with  those  Brit- 

Chap.  1.      .,  .,.., 

isn  seas  m  which  so  many  brave  men  were  to  do  brave  deeds 

in  the  time  to  come. 
Diodoras  But  amon<?  our  Greek  authorities  in  relation  to  ancient 

andStmbo.     -r>    .      .  .  .         t->,. 

Britain,  we  have  to  mention  the  historian  Diodorus  Siculus 
and  Strabo  the  geographer.  Both  these  authors  were  con- 
temporary with  Caesar  and  Augustus,  both  were  men  whose 
lives  were  given  to  the  production  of  the  works  which  bore 
their  names,  and  their  fragments  concerning  Britain  are 
much  more  certain  and  satisfactory  than  will  be  found  in 
preceding  writers.  The  Britain  they  describe  is  not  so  much 
the  Britain  of  Kent,  which  Csesar  had  recently  made  known 
to  them,  as  the  Britain  of  Cornwall,  as  previously  known  to 
Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  and  Greeks.  Diodorus  regards 
Britain  as  an  island,  and  has  attempted  a  description  of  its 
extent  and  form.  The  Britons,  he  writes,  '  who  dwell  near 
that  promontory  of  Britain  which  is  called  Belerium  (the 
Land's  End),  are  singularly  fond  of  strangers ;  and,  from 
their  intercourse  with  foreign  merchants,  are  civilized  in 
their  thanners.  These  people  obtain  tin  by  skilfully  work- 
ing the  soil  which  produces  it.  The  soil  being  rocky,  has 
hard  crevices  from  which  they  work  out  the  ore,  which  they 
fuse  and  reduce  to  a  metal.  When  they  have  fonned  it  into 
cubical  shapes,  they  convey  it  to  a  certain  island  lying  off 
Britain,  named  Ictis ;  for  at  the  low  tides,  the  intervening 
space  being  dry  land,  they  carry  it  thither  in  great  abun- 
dance in  waggons.'  At  low  tides,  says  the  historian^  the 
places  which  seemed  to  be  islands  become  peninsulas.  '  Here 
the  merchants  purchase  the  tin  from  the  natives,  and  carry 
it  across  into  Gaul ;  whence  it  is  conveyed  on  horses,  through 
the  intervening  Celtic  land,  to  the  people  of  Massalia,  and 
to  the  city  called  !N"arbonne.'"^''  It  will  be  seen  that  this  ac- 
count of  the  Cornwall  Britons  agrees  substantially  with  that 
given  by  Himilco  three  centuries  earlier. 

Strabo  writes :  '  The  Cassiterides  are  ten  in  number, 
and  lie  near  eacli  other  in  the  ocean  towards  the  north  from 
the  haven  of  Artabri.  One  of  them  is  a  desert,  but  the 
others  are  inhabited  by  men  in  black  cloaks,  clad  in  tunics, 

*  Lib.  V.  c.  21,  22,  38. 


I 


THE   EAKLY   INHABITANTS    OF   BRITAIN.  7 

reacliing  to  the  feet,  and  girt  about  tlie  breast.     Walking   b^k  l 

with  staves,  and  bearded  like  goats,  they  subsist  by  their     

cattle,  leading  for  the  most  part  a  wandering  life.  And 
having  metals  of  tin  and  lead,  tlrese  and  skins  they  barter 
with  the  merchants  for  earthenware,  and  salt,  and  brazen 
vessels.  Formerly  the  Phoenicians  alone  carried  on  this 
traffic,  by  Gadeira  (Gibraltar),  concealing  the  passage  from 
every  one  :  and  when  the  Romans  followed  a  certain  ship- 
master, that  they  might  also  find  the  mart,  the  shipmaster, 
out  of  jealousy,  purposely  ran  his  vessel  upon  a  shoal,  and 
leading  on  those  who  followed  him  into  the  same  destruc- 
tion, he  himself  escaped  by  means  of  a  fragment  of  the  ship, 
and  recovered  from  the  state  the  value  of  the  cargo  he  had 
lost.''^  Strabo  adds,  that  subsequently  the  Romans  discov- 
ered this  passage  to  Britain,  and  availed  themselves  of  it, 
though  much  more  circuitous  than  the  journey  by  land. 
Two  writers  among  the  Greeks  of  Alexandria  are  cited  by 
Diodorus  and  Strabo  as  authorities  for  what  they  relate  con- 
cerning Britain,  viz.  Eratosthenes  and  Artemidorus — and 
these  authors,  no  doubt,  derived  their  information  from  their 
neighbours,  the  PhoBnicians. 

But  it  is  to  Roman  authorship,  beginning  with  Caesar,  Britain  as 
that  we  are  indebted  for  our  earliest  knowledore  of  Britain  by  the  eo- 

thrus 

beyond  the  islands  and  the  coast  of  Cornwall.  From  these 
authorities  taken  together,  we  learn  that  half  a  century  be- 
fore the  Christian  era,  Britain  w^as  more  or  less  peopled  over 
its  whole  surface.  The  Celts  of  Gaul  are  described  by  those 
writers  as  divided  into  a  multitude  of  nations.  Tacitus  reck- 
ons them  as  sixty-four. f  Appian  raises  the  number  to  four 
hundred.:!:  Judging  from  the  number  of  clans  which  have 
divided  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  between  them  down  to 
very  recent  times,  it  is  easy  to  suppose  that  the  nations,  and 
still  more  the  tribes,  in  Celtic  Gaul  were  very  numerous. 
We  know  that  this  distinction  between  nation  and  tribe  ob- 
tained in  Britain.     The  people  of  Kent  in  the  time  of  Caesar 

*  Lib.  iii.  e.  5.     Some  suppose  the  men  seen  in  '  black  cloaks,'  and  wearing 
long  beards,  to  have  been  the  Druids,  not  the  population  generally.     But  the  . 
official  costume  of  the  Druids  was  white,  not  black. 

\  Ann.  iii.  44.  X  Be  Bel.  Civil,  ii.  Tl. 


8  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

cha?  1.'  ^^1*®  *^^^  common  name  of  Cantii,  but  that  general  designa- 
tion  compreliended  at  least  four  tribes,  eacli  governed  by  its 
own  j)rince  or  chieftain.* 

Of  the  nations  in  possession  of  the  British  territory  south 
of  the  Clyde  und  Forth  eighteen  centuries  since,  history 
makes  distinct  mention  of  twenty-five.  Concerning  the 
number  of  tribes  included  in  these  nations  our  information 
is  imperfect.  Some  of  them,  as- will  be  supposed,  were  much 
more  populous  than  others,  and  covered  a  larger  territory. 
Ancient       It  is  clcar,  also,  that  even  amons:  those  rude  communities 

British  ti  i     i  p  i 

states.  something  like  a  balance-of-power  theory  was  m  operation. 
The  weak  found  comparative  safety  in  being  allied  with  the 
strong,  and  in  becoming  parties  to  the  rivalries  between  the 
more  powerful.  There  were  great  powders  and  less  in  the 
Britain  of  those  days,  as  there  have  been  great  powers  and 
less  in  Europe  in  later  times.  The  Silures,  for  example,  the 
subjects  of  the  well-known  Caractacus,  who  are  said  to  have 
had  their  origin  and  centre  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Wye,  included  the  Ordovices  and  the  Dimetge  of  K'orth 
"Wales  among  their  allies,  and  could  call  their  warriors  to- 
gether from  the  whole  length  of  territory  betw^een  the  Usk, 
on  the  borders  of  Glamorganshire  in  the  south,  and  the  Dee 
of  Cheshire  in  the  north,  and  from  over  the  breadth  of  coun- 
try between  the  Malvern  Hills  and  the  AVrekin  in  the  east, 
and  St.  George's  Channel  in  the  west.  The  Brigantes  were 
a  still  more  powerful  people.  Tlieir  lands  measured  the 
breadth  of  the  island,  from  the  seaboard  of  Yorkshire  on  the 
one  side  to  that  of  Lancashire  on  the  other.  It,  in  fact,  em- 
braced all  the  northern  counties  of  modern  England.  The 
Cantii,  as  before  stated,  were  in  possession  of  Kent.  The 
Belgse  peopled  Hampshire  and  Wiltshire.  The  greater  part 
of  Middlesex,  including  London,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Trinobantes.  Tlie  Danmonii  are  found  almost  everywhere 
south  of  the  river  Ex.  Along  the  east  coast,  between  the 
Thames  in  the  south,  and  the  land  of  the  Brigantes  in  the 
north,  w^ere  the  Iceni  and  the  Coitanni.  The  spaces  between 
these  greater  nations  were  occupied  by  many  smaller,  and 

*  De  Bel.  Gal.  iii.  1.     Caesar  has  given  the  names  of  the  chiefs. 


THE   E^-RLY   INHABITANTS   OF   BRITAIN.  9 

the  greater  nations  had  become  such  by  gradually  absorbing   book  l 

many  of  less  magnitude.*  

The  question  now  comes — Of  what  race  were  these  com-  Kaceof 

.  ^  A  -rr  ancient 

munities  ?  The  answer  of  Caesar  is,  that  those  oi  Kent  and  Britain, 
its  neighbourhood  were  an  immigrant  race  from  Belgic 
Gaul.  This  he  learnt  from  the  Belgians  themselves ;  and 
their  representations  were  confirmed  by  what  he  saw  on  his 
first  and  second  invasions.  One  of  his  pretences  for  these 
invasions  was,  the  assistance  the  Britons  had  rendered  to 
their  brethren  and  allies  in  Gaul,  when  the  latter  were  in 
arms  against  the  Romans.f  It  is  clear  from  subsequent  au- 
thorities, that  the  people  of  the  whole  island  were  so  far  one 
in  condition,  customs,  and  language,  as  to  be  evidently  of 
the  same  race.  If  some  exception  should  be  made  in  the 
case  of  the  Picts,  who  became  formidable  in  the  Lowlands 
of  Scotland  at  a  later  period,  and  of  the  Gaels,  who  have 
been  always  confined  to  the  Highlands  of  that  country,  we 
can  only  say  that  we  do  not  regard  the  difference,  even  in 
these  cases,  as  amounting  to  a  difference  of  race. 

If  the  general  statement  now  made  be  correct,  to  know 
the  race  of  the  Belgic  Gauls  in  the  time  of  Csesar,  is  to  know 
the  race  of  the  British  at  that  time.  The  common  opinion 
is,  that  the  Belgge  were  a  branch  of  the  great  Celtic  family 
Nine-tenths  of  our  most  competent  authorities  are  of  this 
judgment,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  evidence  on  the  case  is 
with  them.  That  the  Germans  and  Celts  bordered  upon  each 
other,  and  mixed  in  some  degree  together  upon  the  territory 
now  known  as  the  Low  Countries,  may  be  admitted.  But 
that  circumstance  is  consistent  with  the  fact  that  the  lan- 
guage of  all  the  known  communities  of  Britain  was  found 
to  be  Celtic,  and  not  German.  The  language  of  Wales  is 
not  the  language  of  the  Germans  ;  the  Gaelic  speech  is  not 
the  speech  of  that  people.  ISText  in  importance  to  the  evi^ 
dence  from  identity  in  language,  is  the  evidence  from  iden- 
tity in  religion.     Druidism,  so  different  from  Odinism,  was 

*  Ptolein.  viii.  2.  Antonin.  Itinerary.  Baxter's  Gloss.  Brit.  Horsley's 
Britannia  Romana — passim.  Tacitus  says  the  subdivisions  of  the  British  peo- 
ple, and  the  consequent  jealousies,  prevented  their  acting  together,  and  were 
constantlv  favourable  to  the  success  of  the  Romans. —  Vita  Agric.  xii. 

t  De  Bel.  Gal. 


10 


CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap,  1. 


Picts  and 
Scots. 


dominant  in  Britain,  and  not  less  so  in  Celtic  Gaul.  Caesar, 
indeed,  says  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  of  Britain 
were  born  in  the  island,  while  those  on  the  sea-coast  were 
recent  settlers.  But  he  does  not  say  to  what  extent  this 
was  the  case,  l^or  does  he  say  that  the  difference  was  a 
difference  of  race.  Had  he  taken  up  such  a  rumour,  or  re- 
corded such  a  conjecture,  it  could  have  weighed  little 
against  the  evidence  in  our  possession. 

The  Picts— the  supposed  ancestors  of  the  Lowland  Scotch 
■ — do  not  make  their  appearance  in  history  under  that  name 
before  the  close  of  the  third  century  of  the  present  era. 
The  controversy  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  this  name  and 
people  has  been  great  and  very  bitter.  They  have  become 
Germans,  Scandinavians,  Gaels,  Britons,  or  nondescripts,  ac- 
cording to  the  bias  of  our  historians  and  antiquaries.  From 
the  remains  of  their  language,  as  well  as  from  other  circum- 
stances, the  most  reasonable,  and  now  the  most  general 
opinion  is  that  the  Picts  were  from  the  common  Celtic  stock, 
and  for  the  most  part  Britons.  The  natives  who  were  not 
disposed  to  submit  to  the  Roman  sway,  would  naturally 
be  drawn  together  along  some  comparatively  safe  border  of 
the  Roman  territory,  and  would  prove  troublesome  to  those 
within  it.  Ptolemy  makes  these  northern  tribes  to  have 
been  seventeen  in  number.*" 

The  Gaelic  clans  of  the  Highlands  were  also  Celtse.  But 
their  language,  and  their  geographical  position,  seem  to 
shut  us  up  to  one  of  two  conclusions — either  that  they  must 
have  come  into  that  part  of  Britain  from  Ireland,  or  that 
they  were  the  remains  of  an  aboriginal  race  which  had  been 
forced  into  those  mountain  fastnesses,  into  the  Isle  of  Man, 
and  into  Ireland  itself,  by  the  pressure  of  subsequent  invad- 
ers. There  are  some  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  latter 
supposition,  but  evidence,  upon  the  whole,  seems  to  pre- 
ponderate in  its  favour.  The  Gaelic  tongue  is  not  British. 
Its  only  affinity  is  with  the  Irish.  The  word  Ahe7\  in 
Welsh,  as  in  old  British,  denotes  the  estuary  of  a  river,  or 
any  outlet  of  waters.     The  word  Inve7\  in  Gaelic  and  Irish, 


*  Worsaac's  Primeval  Antiquities  of  Denmark.      Wilson's  Prehistoric  An- 
nals of  Scotland^  470-473.     Latham's  Ethnology  of  the  British  Islands^  c.  iv. 


THE   EAELY   INHABITANTS   OF   BRITAIN.  11 

has  tlie  same  meaning.  The  word  Aber  is  so  nsed,  as  a  bookl 
prefix  to  names  of  places,  along  a  line  extending  from  South  — '- 
Wales  to  the  l^orth  of  Scotland,  marking  off  a  territory  to 
the  right  of  that  line  as  pervaded  by  the  British  tongue  and 
race.  The  word  Tnver  is  commonly  used  for  the  same  pur- 
pose through  the  Highlands  to  the  left  of  that  line,  be- 
speaking the  prevalence  there  of  a  tongue  and  race  which 
are  rather  Irish  than  British.  Thus,  while  the  British 
tongue  sounds  along  from  Aberystwith  to  Aberdeen,  the 
Gaelic  makes  itself  heard  from  Inverary  to  Inverness.^ 

That   Britain  was   in   some  deo^ree  peopled  bv  a  pre-  Question  of 

"^  a  pre-Celtic 

Celtic  race  is  an  opinion  familiar  to  the  learned.  But  the  race, 
evidence  on  which  it  rests  is  too  fragmentary  and  uncertain 
to  be  available  for  history.  There  may  have  been,  as  our 
Northern  antiquaries  teach,  an  age  of  stone  implements, 
and  an  age  of  bronze,  preceding  that  age  of  iron  which  had 
come  in  the  time  of  Csesar.f  But  the  line  between  those 
ages  cannot  be  well  defined,  and  the  two  former  must  be 
reckoned  pre-historic.  The  race  of  the  stone  period,  who 
had  so  far  degenerated  from  the  civilization  of  those  eastern 
lands  whence  their  progenitors  had  long  since  migrated, 
must  have  passed  away  long  before  the  age  of  Caesar, 
like  the  vegetation  of  their  own  forests,  leaving  scarcely  a 
trace  behind. 

Concerning  the  physical  features  of  the  inhabitants  of  SfuJefof 
Britain  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  era,  ancient  Britons!*^' 
writers  have  said  but  little.  The  description  of  the- 
trading  and  peaceful  Britons  of  Cornwall,  with  their  long 
beards,  long  tunics,  and  long  walking-staves,  is  manifestly 
a  description  that  must  not  be  deemed  applicable  to  the 
Britons  beyond  that  district.  The  Britons  seen  by  Caesar, 
though  living  in  a  colder  latitude  than  the  people  of  Corn- 
wall, were  comparatively  naked.  They  were  clad  in  skins. 
They  stained  their  bodies  with  woad,  covering  them  with 
purple  figures  ;  a  custom  not  necessarily  barbarous,  inas- 

*  Kemble's  Saxons  in  England^  ii.  p.  5.  In  Scotland  there  are  eleven 
names  of  places  commencing  with  the  one  prefix,  and  twelve  commencing  with 
the  other.  In  Wales  there  are  seven  names  commencing  with  aber — not  one 
with  inver. — Latham's  Ethnology  of  the  British  Islands,  c.  v. 

f  Worsaae's  Primeval  AntiquUies  of  Denmark. 


12  CELTS   AND   EOMAXS. 

BOOK  I,    much  as  it  lias  been  common  among  British  seamen  within 

our  own  memory.     Its  design  could  hardly  have  been  to 

give  fierceness  to  their  aspect ;  it  was  the  effect  rather  of  a 
rude  love  of  ornament.  They  w^ore  a  moustache,  but  no 
beard.  Tlieir  hair  fell  long  upon  ^  their  shoulders ;  and 
they  were  brave  and  skilful  in  w^ar. 

Strabo  speaks  of  some  Britons  seen  by  him  at  Rome  as 
being  taller  than  the  Gauls,  but  more  slightly  built ;  their 
hair,  also,  was  less  yellow;  and  there  was  a  want  of 
symmetry  in  their  lower  limbs.  There  were  no  men  in 
Eome  so  tall  by  half  a  foot.*  It  is  possible,  however,  that 
these  men  were  seen  in  procession ;  and  if  so,  they  would 
be  picked  men,  and  not  a  fair  sample  of  their  race. 

Tacitus  says  the  Britons  varied  in  their  physical  appear- 
ance. Tlie  Caledonians  had  ruddy  hair  and  large  limbs. 
The  Silures  were  more  of  an  olive  complexion,  and  their 
hair  mostly  dark  and  curling — suggesting  an  Iberian  origin, 
and  something  in  common  perhaps  between  the  proud  Cas- 
tilian  and  the  countrymen  of  Caractacus.  The  tribes  in- 
habiting the  present  Lowlands  of  Scotland  he  describes 
as  a  fierce  people ;  the  Silures  as  powerful  and  brave  ;  and 
the  Britons  generally  as  not  incapable  of  submission  if 
mildly  treated,  but  as  passionate  and  uncontrollable  under 
oppression. 

TIerodian,  describing  the  expedition  of  the  Emperor 
Severus  against  the  Caledonians,  writes  :  '  Tliey  know  not 
the  use  of  clothing,  but  encircle  their  loins  and  necks  with 
iron,  deeming  this  an  ornament  and  an  evidence  of  opulence, 
in  like  manner  as  other  barbarians  esteem  gold.  They 
puncture  their  bodies  with  pictured  forms  of  every  sort  of 
animals ;  on  which  account  they  wear  no  clothing,  lest 
they  should  hide  the  figures  on  their  bodies.  They  are  a 
most  warlike  and  sanguinary  race,  carrying  only  a  small 
shield  and  a  spear,  and  a  sword  girded  to  their  naked 
bodies.'t  If  we  accept  this  account  as  trustworthy,  it  will 
be  clear  from  the  pages  of  Tacitus  and  Dion  Cassius,  that 
the  Britons  of  the  south,  even  in  the  first  century,  were 

*  Lib.  iv.  c.  5,  §  2.  f  Lib.  iii.  c.  24. 


THE   EARLY   INHABITANTS    OF   BRITAIN.  13 

greatly  in  advance  of  the  rudeness  of  the  north  three  cen-   ^J??  i* 

turies  later.     Boadicea  is  described  as  a  woman  of  queenly     

presence.  "When  addressing  her  men  of  war,  she  wore  a 
rich  golden  collar,  and  a  parti-colored  floating  vest,  drawn 
close  about  her  bosom,  and  over  that  a  thick  mantle  fasten- 
ed with  a  clasj).  Her  hair  was  of  a  yellow  color,  and  fell 
in  j)rofusion  to  her  waist. 

Such,  in  brief,  were  the  early  inhabitants  of  Britain. 
More  will  be  said  of  the  state  in  which  the  Romans  found 
them  as  we  proceed  to  mark  the  change  introduced  by  the 
coming  in  of  that  new  power.  Some  rough  experiences  then 
came  on  the  rude  communities  of  this  island.  For  civilized 
men  do  not  often  estimate  the  suffering  of  the  not  civilized 
according  to  a  law  of  humanity.  It  is  deemed  enough  to 
estimate  it  according  to  a  law  of  caste.  The  blood  of  the 
rude  flows^-their  hearts  are  broken — but  what  of  that  ?  Is 
such  blood  human — do  such  hearts  really  feel  ? 


CHAPTER   II. 

EEVOLUTIOI^    BY    THE     SWORD. 

c?iA?  2'   ^^■'■^'^''^  Caesar  meditated  tlie  invasion  of  Britain,  the  great 
Ro^nTtbe  Koman  Republic  was  not  dead,  but  every  new  breath 

c™s^a?^  seemed  to  betoken  the  action  of  a  malady  that  must  soon 
prove  fatal.  Marins,  Sulla,  and  Catiline  had  done  their 
work,  and  their  history  had  revealed  the  general  corrup- 
tion of  their  times.  Faction  had  come  into  the  place  of  pa- 
triotism. Selfishness  had  consumed  public  spirit.  All  that 
men  like  Cato  and  Cicero  could  do,  in  the  face  of  the  ene- 
mies of  the  commonwealth,  was  to  break  the  force  of  a  fall 
which  had  become  inevitable.  Laws  which  had  been  just 
and  wise  so  long  as  the  citizens  to  be  governed  by  them 
were  virtuous  and  few,  were  made  to  subserve  all  evil  pur- 
poses now  that  the  citizens  had  become  to  the  last  degree 
unprincipled,  and  had  grown  to  be  almost  innumerable. 
The  province  of  government  had  been  restricted  to  the  nar- 
rowest limits,  that  good  men  might  be  secured  against 
oppression.  But  the  time  had  come  in  which  bad  men 
abused  the  liberty  which  good  men  had  known  how  to  use. 
l^owhere  w^as  it  more  needed  than  in  Rome  that  the  govern- 
ment should  be  strong  ;  but  nowhere  was  a  government  of 
that  nature  more  impracticable  on  the  basis  of  existing  law. 
Rome  had  become  a  den  of  desperate  gamesters,  and  the 
winnings  which  the  chances  of  the  game  were  to  distribute 
consisted  of  the  plunder  to  be  obtained  from  the  world-wide 
provinces  which  the  armies  of  the  republic  had  subdued. 
Time  was,  when  men  in  Rome  cared  about  guarding  the 
public  honour,  and  augmenting  the  public  virtue ;  but  the 
great  care  had  now  come  to  be  how  to  appropriate  public 
functions,  as  means  of  access  to  the  public  wealth. 


EEVOLUTION   BY   THE   SWOED.  15 

]S"o  man  knew  better  than  Caesar  that  when  a  republic  book  l 
has  passed  into  such  a  state  its  days  are  numbered.  It  ^°*^^'  ^' 
deserves  to  perish,  and  it  will  assuredly  perish.  It  has  lost  ncTtn'tST 
the  power  of  self-government,  it  needs  a  master,  and  it  is  BSlm  °' 
the  law  of  Providence  in  such  cases  that  the  master  shall 
come.  But  who  was  to  be  this  presiding  spirit?  Caesar 
judged,  and  judged  rightly,  that  he  was  himself  more  compe- 
tent than  any  other  man  to  seize  that  position,  and  to  hold 
it.  But  it  became  him  to  move  with  caution.  If  he  had 
no  equal,  he  had  competitors  :  these  must  be  dealt  with,  and 
affairs  must  otherwise  be  ripened  for  the  catastrophe. 
Ceesar  must  add  to  his  power  by  adding  to  his  celebrity ; 
and  he  must  weaken  the  government  still  more,  by  giving 
more  strength  to  the  factions  which  preyed  upon  it.  It 
was  this  policy  that  had  disposed  him  to  extend  the  war  in 
Gaul  into  Germany,  and  that  suggested  the  importance  of 
annexing  Britain  to  the  territories  of  the  republic.  Every 
such  achievement  was  estimated  according  to  its  value  as 
capital  in  the  hands  of  skilful  instruments  in  Home.  Caesar, 
accordingly,  was  not  only  careful  to  do  great  things,  but 
careful  also  to  secure  that  due  reports  should  be  made  of 
them  in  all  useful  connections  by  men  at  his  service. 
His  successes  in  his  late  campaign  had  been  emblazoned 
among  all  parties  in  the  capital  by  such  means.  His  inva- 
sion of  Britain — a  land  known  in  Rome  more  from  fable 
than  from  history — was  an  event  which  admitted  still  more 
of  a  colouring  from  the  marvellous.  For  whether  Britain 
was  really  an  island,  or  part  of  another  continent,  was  a 
question  left  to  be  determined  by  Agricola  a  century  and  a 
half  later.* 

We  scarcely  know  how  to  conceive  of  the  news-vending  Newsvend- 

/?  ••1.11  ^  ins:  in 

ot  a  great  city  m  which  there  were  no  printing-presses  and  Eome. 
no  newspapers.     But  where  there  is  little  reading  we  may 
be  sure  there  will  bo  much  talking.     In  the  absence  of  jour- 
nalism men  had  their  expedients  for  doing  what  is  now 
done  by  that  means.     The  baths  of  Home  were  the  clubs  of 

*  Tacit.  Vita  Agric.  §  10.  '  First  under  Agricola,  and  now  under  Severus  it 
has  been  clearly  proved  to  be  an  island.' — Dion  Cassius,  lib.  xxxix.  §  51.  Xiphi- 
lin.  lib.  Ixvi.  §  20. 


parations. 


16  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.  tliose  days  and  tlie  centres  of  every  sort  of  association 
— '-'  Many  of  tlieir  departments  were  open  to  all  comers,  and 
were  filled  witli  idlers.  Not  only  in  such  places,  but  with 
the  crowds  which  followed  some  patrician  to  his  home,  or 
gathered  at  the  corner  of  almost  every  street,  in  every 
saloon,  in  every  supper-party,  in  every  gathering  of  per- 
sons, from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  the  man  with  the  latest 
news  never  failed  of  an  eager  welcome.  As  the  plot  thick- 
ened, the  agents  of  Caesar  became  more  numerous:  they 
spread  themselves  into  all  public  and  private  relations ;  and 
the  final  blow  to  the  expiring  liberties  of  the  commonwealth 
was  struck  by  their  hand.  Such  was  the  policy  of  Csesar 
when  he  resolved  on  the  enterprise  which  has  associated  his 
name  with  the  early  history  of  Britain. 

Caesar's  pre-  Csesar  had  brought  his  campaign  in  Gaul  to  a  close. 
He  had  taught  the  Germans  to  respect  the  authority  of 
Rome ;  and,  though  the  season  was  far  advanced,  he  flattered 
himself  that  he  might  do  something  in  Britain  which  would 
be  favourable  to  the  object  of  his  ambition.  From  the 
country  of  the  Morini,  between  Calais  and  Boulogne,  he 
saw  the  white  coast  of  the  unexj)lored  land — the  great  cape- 
land,  as  many  supposed,  of  some  new  world.  Merchants  in 
constant  intercourse  with  Britain  were  interrogated  concern- 
ing the  country  and  its  inhabitants.  But  the  traders  were 
more  disposed  to  befriend  their  customers  than  to  further 
the  projects  of  the  military  aspirant  who  pressed  them  with 
such  questions.  An  officer  was  sent  to  explore  the  coast. 
But  appearances  were  such  that  he  did  not  venture  to  land. 
Meanwhile  vessels  were  collected  in  great  numbers  from  all 
parts.  The  intention  of  the  Boman  general  was  no  secret 
.among  the  Gauls.  Every  sail,  and  every  boat,  that  crossed 
the  Channel  gave  new  warning  to  the  Britons.  Conferences 
took  place  in  regard  to  the  course  best  to  be  taken.  Cogsar 
relates  that,  as  the  result  of  these  deliberations,  a  messenger 
was  sent  to  him  stating  that  the  Britons  were  not  indisposed 
to  place  themselves  under  Boman  protection.  But  the  rep- 
resentative authority  of  this  messenger  must  have  been 
very  limited.  The  reception  given  to  Caesar,  when  attempt- 
ing to  land  on  the  British  shore,  was  not  the  reception  to 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  17 

have  been  expected  from   a  people  prepared  to   submit   book  i. 
without  a  struggle  to  the  yoke  of  an  invader.  chapjj. 

The  haven  of  AYissen,  a  little  to  the  south  of  Calais,  is  The  cm- 
the  point  from  which  Caesar  is  supposed  to  have  embarked,  and  pai"" 
Tlie  ships  containing  the  infantry,  besides  galleys  for  the  ^'*' 
officers,  were  eighty  in  number.     The  cavalry  had  been  left 
to  embark  at  Boulogne,  in  vessels  which  had  been  detained 
at  that  place  by  unfavourable  winds.      The  shipping   at 
Wissen,  with  their  two  legions  of  infantry,  put  to  sea  about 
ten  at  night,  and  made  their  appearance  on  the  British  coast 
about  the  same  hour  the  next  morning.     The  islanders  had 
been  vigilant.      They  were  not  taken  by  surprise.      The 
high  lands  about  Dover  and  the  green  slopes  descending  to 
the  sea,  were  covered  with  armed  multitudes,  mostly  on  foot, 
but  many  in  w^ar-chariots.     Everywhere  there  was  move- 
ment, and  shouts  from  a  great  sea  of  voices,  which  promised 
no  friendly  greeting  to  the  strangers. 

To  land  on  a  steep  shore  in  the  face  of  such  assailants  The  land- 
is  felt  to  be  impossible.  The  ships,  accordingly,  are  seen  ^°°" 
moving  along  the  cocist  northward,  in  search  of  a  more 
convenient  inlet.  After  sailing  some  seven  or  eight  miles, 
they  come  to  a  level  and  open  space,  near  where  the  town 
of  Deal  now  stands ;  and  there  the  prows  of  the  vessels  are 
turned  towards  the  beach,  and  landing  is  to  be  attempted. 
But  the  natives  have  moved  upon  the  land  side  by  side  with 
the  enemy  upon  the  sea,  and  are  prepared  to  meet  him  as 
before.  Horsemen  and  footmen  are  there  in  great  numbers. 
They  rush  down  to  the  edge  of  the  waters.  Many  advance 
into  the  sea,  challenging  the  veterans  to  descend  from  their 
ships.  But  the  surf  runs  high,  and  the  soldiers  hesitate  to 
commit  themselves  to  such  uncertain  footing  in  the  face  of 
so  bold  an  enemy.  For  some  time  fortune  seems  to  be  on 
the  side  of  the  Britons.  The  military  resources  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  Romans  appear  to  be  exhausted.  Something 
needed  to  be  done  to  check  the  audacity  of  the  barbarians, 
and  to  compel  a  portion  of  them  at  least  to  retire  to  a 
greater  distance.  For  this  purpose  several  of  the  lighter 
vessels  are  made  to  run  upon  the  shore,  and  from  their 
lofty  prows,  which  serve  the  purpose  of  towers,  archers  and 
Vol.  L— 2 


18  CELTS   AND   ROilANS. 

BOOK  L  slingers  do  mucli  execution  upon  the  natives,  tliinning  their 
— '-'  numbers,  and  diminishing  their  ardour.  Still  the  soldiers 
seem  to  distrust  their  ability  to  reach  the  land — and  it  is  be- 
coming doubtful  whether  the  legions  may  not  be  compelled 
to  leave  the  coast  of  Britain  baffled,  and  virtually  defeated. 
At  this  juncture  a  standard-bearer  rushes  into  the  water, 
and  raising  aloft  the  Roman  eagle,  calls  on  all  who  do  not 
mean  to  see  that  symbol  of  the  power  of  Eome  pass  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy  to  follow  him  and  protect  it. 
Many  soldiers  now  leap  without  orders  from  the  ships, 
and  forming  themselves  into  ranks  as  they  best  can,  they 
press  quickly  and  steadily,  with  shield  and  sword,  upon  the 
Britons.  The  beach  is  soon  cleared,  soldiers  hasten  from  all 
the  ships  to  the  land,  and  the  discipline  of  the  Romans  pre- 
vails over  the  untaught  daring  opposed  to  them. 
Submission         Tho  waut  of  couccrt  and  unity,  evils  especially  incident 

and  revolt.  tt  t  .     .,.        ,  ..  ,  -n 

to  small  and  uncivilized  communities,  prevented  any  rally- 
ing of  the  forces  of  the  Britons  after  this  discomfiture.  In  a 
few  days  the  nearest  tribes  consented  to  send  hostages.  But 
while  negotiations  were  in  progress,  the  second  division  of 
ships,  with  the  cavalry,  after  appearing  in  sight,  was  sud- 
denly dispersed  by  a  storm.  The  shipping,  too,  in  which 
the  infantry  had  crossed,  was  so  injured  by  the  foul  w^eather, 
and  by  the  influx  of  a  high  tide,  for  which  the  invaders, 
in  their  ignorance  of  the  coast,  were  not  prepared,  as  to 
leave  the  soldiers  who  had  landed  without  the  means  of  re- 
turn, should  disaster  render  such  a  course  expedient.  In 
these  altered  circumstances  the  Britons  withdrew  secretly 
from  the  camp  ;  the  people  everywhere  removed  their  cattle 
and  substance  ;  and  a  vigorous  attempt  was  made  to  ensure 
the  departure  of  the  enemy  by  leaving  them  without  the 
means  of  subsistence. 
British  Caesar  found  his  forascers  everywhere  beset  and  inter- 

war-char-  ^  «'  •  i  i 

iot-  cepted.     Tliey  were  safe  only  as  protected  by  a  considerable 

force.  In  these  excursions  the  Romans  felt  the  want  of 
their  cavalry,  and  the  war-chariots  of  the  natives  greatly 
disconcerted  them.  These  chariots  had  scythes  fastened  to 
the  axle.  The  warriors  who  manned  them  threw  themselves 
upon  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and  added  destruction  with 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  19 

tlie  spear  and  the  sword  to  that  inflicted  by  the  scythe,  book  l 
Nothing  could  exceed  their  skill  and  conrage  in  the  manage-  ffL.' 
ment  of  these  machines.  They  guided  their  horses  with 
much  dexterity,  and  leaped  from  the  car  to  the  groimd,  and 
from  the  ground  to  the  car,  with  surprising  rapidity.  The 
commander  of  the  chariot  held  the  reins,  and  the  one  or 
more  who  rode  with  him  did  his  bidding — much  as  we  now 
see  represented  in  the  reliefs  on  the  walls  of  Thebes  and 
Nineveh.  But  a  few  destructive  onsets  sufliced  to  put  the 
Komans  on  their  guard ;  and  as  they  never  came  to  close 
fighting  without  being  victors,  the  Britons  soon  became 
sensible  that  the  invaders  had  resources  at  command  which 
they  could  not  hope  to  overcome. 

Overtures  for  peace  were  renewed  and  hostages  prom- The  second 
ised.     Cgesar,  though  he  had  proved  equal  to  the  exigencies  ^"  ™^*^^**°- 
which  had  surrounded  him,  was  not  insensible  to  his  dan- 
ger.    He  listened  gladly  to  the  proposals  made  to  him,  and 
embarked  at  once  for  the  coast  of  Gaul,  leaving  the  Britons 
to  send  the  promised  hostages  after  him. 

The  best  that  could  be  made  of  the  doubtful  fortune  Eeioicings 
which  attended  this  enterprise  was  made  of  it  in  the  reports  ^°  ^™*^* 
sent  to  Rome.  Fictions  of  all  sorts  were  there  clustered 
about  it  by  those  who  expected  to  profit  by  such  inventions. 
The  Senate  was  convened  to  deliberate  on  the  tidings,  and  a 
festival  of  twenty  days  was  decreed  in  honour  of  an  event 
which  had  so  signally  enlarged  the  territories  of  the  state, 
and  which  promised  to  raise  even  the  rude  people  of  Britain 
to  a  place  among  civilized  nations.  Of  this  event,  says  Dion 
Cassius,  Caesar  himself  spoke  in  lofty  terms,  and  the  Romans 
at  home  entertained  a  wonderfully  high  opinion. 

But  Caesar  well  knew  that  the  work  said  to  have  been 
accomplished  in  Britain  was  still  to  be  done.  It  was  well 
that  the  most  should  be  made  of  this  first  attempt.  But  if 
not  followed  by  something  more  decisive,  neither  the  for- 
tunes of  the  general,  nor  the  military  reputation  of  the  le- 
gions, would  be  found  to  have  gained  much  by  the  experi- 
ment to  which  they  had  committed  themselves. 

Before  leaving  Gaul  for  the  winter,  Caesar  had  assigned 
to  his  army  its  occupation  during  that  interval,  and  had 


20  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

BOOK  I.  given  special  instruction  tliat  a  larger  number  of  transjDorts 

— '-'  and  e^alleys  than  had  been  recently  broui^ht  together  should 

Second  in-  ,  ,  ,  .  ^      *^       ^    ^  *  _P 

vasion—  bc  placcd   at  his   service  without  delay.     On  his  return 

Embarka-  ■'■  *^ 

tion  and  from  Italy  in  the  sprint:,  he  found  that  the  different  harbours 


between  Ostend  and  Boulogne  were  prepared  to  supply  him 
with  more  than  six  hundred  vessels,  besides  twenty-eight 
galleys.  These  transports  had  been  all  built  for  the  occa- 
sion. They  were  now  launched,  and  concentrated  on  the 
point  where  the  five  legions  destined  for  this  second  inva- 
sion of  Britain  had  been  assembled.  But  during  the  first 
five-and-twenty  days  the  wind  continued  to  bloAV  from  the 
north.  Towards  sunset  on  the  first  day  of  favourable  weather 
this  multitude  of  vessels  put  to  sea,  darkening  its  surface 
for  some  miles  in  breadth  and  distance,  as  they  floated  off 
towards  Britain.  On  the  break  of  day  they  found  them- 
selves drifted  by  the  tide,  and  by  a  westerly  wind,  consider- 
ably beyond  their  intended  point  of  landing.  By  the  return 
of  the  tide,  however,  and  the  help  of  their  oars,  they  appear 
to  have  retraced  their  way  to  the  entrance  of  Sandwich 
haven,  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Stour,  the  sj)ot  now  known 
as  Pegwell  Bay. 

The  Britons  were  not  ignorant  of  the  preparations  which- 
•were  being  made  during  the  winter  in  the  harbours  along 
the  coast  of  Gaul,  and  knew  the  force  with  which  the  enemy 
was  about  to  descend  upon  their  shores.  Of  the  hostages 
for  which  Csesar  had  stipulated,  a  few  only  had  been  sent ; 
and  this  failure  was  alleged  as  a  sufiicient  reason  for  a  sec- 
ond expedition.  To  hazard  a  general  engagement  with  such 
an  army  was  felt  by  the  Britons  to  bo  dangerous.  In  this 
instance,  accordingly,  no  attempt  was  made  to  resist  the 
landing.  But  the  natives  had  assembled  in  great  numbers, 
and  were  prepared  to  watcli  the  movements  of  the  enemy, 
and  to  avail  themselves  of  every  possible  advantage  against 
him. 
cjpsar'smi-  Csssar  Icamt  that  the  Britons  had  taken  their  position 
raSons!^^  ou  the  sliorc  of  a  small  river — ^probably  the  Stour,  about 
twelve  miles  distant.  Having  made  provision  for  the  safety 
of  his  ships,  and  left  a  guard  of  ten  cohorts  and  three  hun- 
dred horse  in  charge  of  them,  he  put  his  army  in  motion. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE   SWORD.  21 

under  cover  of  the  night,  and  by  daybreak  came  upon  the  book  i. 
Britons  on  the  ground  they  had  chosen.  The  natives  with-  °^^' 
drew  to  a  retreat  near  at  hand,  which,  in  the  times  of  their 
wars  with  each  other,  had  been  fortified  by  a  dyke  and 
mound,  and  further  strengthened  by  a  stockade.  Caesar 
conducted  his  assault  on  this  place  w4th  much  caution  ;  but 
the  Britons  had  guarded  against  being  surrounded,  and  after 
keeping  the  enemy  in  check  for  some  time  they  retired, 
without  material  injury,  towards  the  interior.  Csesar  pre- 
pared to  move  in  the  same  direction.  But  a  messenger  now 
came  with  tidings  that  a  storm  had  separated  the  ships  from 
their  anchors,  and  dashed  them  against  each  other,  many 
of  them  being  stranded,  and  wrecked,  so  as  to  have  become 
useless.  Caesar  commanded  the  soldiers  to  fortify  their 
camp,  and  returned  himself  under  a  strong  escort  to  the 
shore.  The  loss,  liowever,  did  not  prove  to  be  so  serious  as 
reported.  Forty  transports  were  abandoned  as  worthless, 
but  the  remainder  were  put  nnder  repair.  Every  man  who 
had  followed  the  trade  of  a  carpenter  was  taken  from  the 
ranks  to  be  employed  in  this  service.  Workmen  were  also 
brought  over  from  Gaul.  During  the  next  ten  days  and 
nights  the  sounds  along  the  shore  near  Pegwell  Bay  were 
those  of«  a  busy  dockyard.  The  damages  being  by  that 
time  repaired,  Caesar,  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such  mis- 
chief, gave  orders  that  the  vessels  should  be  drawn  up  on 
shore,  and  that  the  force  left  to  protect  them  should  strength- 
en its  position  by  raising  an  entrenchment  on  the  land  side 
of  their  encampment. 

The  news  of  this  disaster  had  given  new  courage  to  the  cassive- 
Britons.  Hostilities  with  each  other,  in  which  they  w^ere 
engaged  even  at  the  moment  of  Caesar's  appearance  among 
them,  were  now  suspended,  and  the  belligerents  agreed  to 
act  together  against  the  common  enemy.  The  command  of 
this  combined  force  was  given  to  a  chief  known  to  us  by  the 
name  of  Cassivelaunus,  who  ruled  a  people  occupying  a  dis- 
trict of  Middlesex  bordering  upon  the  Thames.  His  fight- 
ing men  consisted  of  a  lai*ge  body  of  footmen,  besides  horse- 
men and  charioteers.  Cassivelaunus  possessed  a  consider- 
able advantage  in  his  knowledge  of  the  woods  and  marshes, 


22  CELTS    AND   EOMANS. 

BOOK  I.    and  of  the  concealed  pathways  of  the  country.     He  hovered 

on  the  march  of  the  Romans,  galled  them  from  ambuscades 

and  thickets,  and  assailed  them  vigorously  with  his  horsemen 
and  chariots,  often  on  ground  where  attacks  by  such  means 
were  not  to  have  been  expected.  But  one  enterprise  of  this 
nature  brought  him  into  collision  with  a  large  body  of  cav- 
alry on  forage,  and  with  a  complete^  legion  of  infantry  fol- 
lowing to  sustain  it.  In  this  encounter  the  slaughter  of  the 
Britons  was  so  great  that  no  second  assault  on  that  scale 
was  attempted. 

This  advantage  gained,  Caesar  ventured  further  into  the 
country.  He  appears  to  have  crossed  the  Medway  near 
Maidstone,  and  the  Thames  at  a  place  called  Coway  Stakes, 
near  Chertsey — a  spot  were  the  old  river  still  curves  its  w^ay 
beautifully,  while  on  the  level  land  the  rude  forest  has  given 
place  to  the  rich  meadow  and  the  cottage  homestead.  At 
this  point,  where  alone  the  river  was  fordable,  the  natives 
had  driven  stakes  in  the  water,  and  had  lined  the  bank  on 
the  opposite  side  with  a  stockade.  The  cavalry  entered  the 
river  first,  the  infantry  followed  close  upon  them,  and  could 
with  difficulty  keep  their  chins  above  the  w^ater  in  their 
passage.  But  both  divisions  succeeded  in  making  their  way 
to  the  opposite  bank,  and  the  natives  were  soon  forced  from 
their  defences. 

The  war  from  this  time  was  one  of  devastation,  each 
party  striving  to  cut  off  all  means  of  subsistence  from  the 
other.  Csesar  restored  a  king  whom  the  Trinobantes,  a  peo- 
ple inhabiting  part  of  Essex  and  Suffolk,  had  deposed. 
Five  other  communities,  with  their  chiefs,  made  their  sub- 
mission. As  a  last  expedient  Cassivelaunus  urged  the  peo- 
ple of  Kent  to  attack  the  cohorts  which  Caesar  had  left  on 
the  coast,  and  to  endeavour  to  destroy  his  ships.  But  the 
assault,  though  made  with  promptitude  and  vigour,  w^as  not 
Theiinai  succcssful.  Tlic  ucxt  cvcut  was  the  submission  of  Cassive- 
-dep.arture  lauuus  liimsclf  I  and  Caesar,  who  had  consumed  much  more 

of  Cibsar.  ..,.  .,  T«ii«i 

tnne  m  this  enterprise  than  comported  with  his  plans,  readily 
accepted  the  promise  of  tribute  from  the  different  peoples 
belonging  to  the  strip  of  territory  he  had  visited,  and  taking 
with  him  hostages  for  the  payment,  he  returned  to  Gaul. 


EEVOLrTION   BY   THE   SWOED.  23 

His  cliief  spoil  from  this  expedition  was  a  large  number  of    book  i. 

,.  ".  CuAP.2. 

captives.''  

Our  knowledge  of  wliat  Caesar  did  in  Britain  comes  mainly  vaiue  of 
from  liis  own  pen.  He  lias  not,  perhaps,  exaggerated  histiSy-** 
own  losses.  In  one  view,  his  policy  would  not  dispose  him  British 
to  underrate  the  country  he  had  invaded,  or  the  people 
whom  he  had  been  at  so  much  pains  to  subdue.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  did  not  accom- 
plish the  work  to  w^hich  he  had  committed  himself,  and  he 
may  have  been  willing  that  the  region  should  be  judged  as 
not  worthy  of  greater  effort.  His  account  of  Cassivelaunus 
places  that  chief  before  us  as  a  man  whose  genius  had  raised 
him  above  his  contemporaries.  But  the  jealousy  with 
which  his  power  was  regarded  by  his  neighbours  was  fatal 
to  tlie  unity  which  could  alone  have  made  resistance  success- 
ful. Even  the  Roman  yoke  would  seem  to  have  been  pre- 
ferred by  some  to  the  undue  ascendency  of  this  native  prince. 
They  were  brave  men,  however — not  a  few  of  these  old  Brit- 
ons ;  magnanimous  and  unselfish  men,  in  their  way,  pre- 
pared to  hazard  every  possible  loss,  rather  than  lose  their 
rude  sense  of  independence  and  freedom.  It  w^as  this  feel- 
ing in  the  past  w^hich  had  made  Borne  great.  But  such 
feeling  was  now  ahnost  wholly  of  the  past.  The  lawlessness 
of  the  republic  was  about  to  give  place  to  the  order  of  a 
military  despotism :  and  during  the  next  hundred  years 
Rome  is  so  much  occupied  in  a  struggle  to  conserve  weighty 
interests  nearer  home,  as  to  be  little  incliuBd  to  engage 
in  an  enterprise  so  costly  as  would  be  necessary  to  ensure 
the  conquest  of  Britain.  Augustus,  indeed,  threatened 
something  of  this  nature  more  than  once.  The  tribute  im- 
posed by  Csesar  was  rarely  paid,  and  his  successor  was  wise 
in  not  attempting  to  enforce  the  payment.     Augustus  con- 

*  Of  the  importance  attached  to  this  alleged  conquest  of  Britain  by  Caesar 
and  the  Romans,  we  may  judge  from  the  following  passages  in  Dion  Cassius :  '  To 
what  purpose  (said  CaDsar)  have  I  so  long  possessed  the  proconsular  power,  if  I 
am  to  be  enslaved  to  any  of  you,  or  vanquished  by  any  of  you  here  in  Italy,  and 
close  to  Rome — I,  by  whom  you  have  subdued  the  Gauls  and  conquered  the  Brit- 
ons' (lib.  xli.  §  34).  '  But  here,  within  these  walls,  he  (Cffisar)  perished  by  con- 
spiracy, wl\o  had  led  an  army  evert  into  Britain  in  security'  {ibid.  §  49).  '  To  be 
trodden  underfoot  (said  Augustus)  by  an  Egyptian  woman  would  be  unworthy  of 
us,  we  who  have  vanquished  the  jGauls — and  passed  over  to  Britain'  (lib.  4, 
§24).  -\ 


24  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

BOOK  I.    tented  himself  with  levying  a  tax  on  British  goods  imported 

— '-'    into  Gaul  and  into  the  Ehine  provinces.     Tiberius  followed 

the  example  of  his  predecessor  in  this  respect,  and  the  joint 

reign  of  these  two  princes  extended  to  nearly  eighty  years.* 

Progress  of         Durin^:  the  century  which  followed  the  departure  of 

Britain  pit  ^t»«'i 

durinsthe    CsBsar  irom  the  shores  ot  iiritam,  the  country  appears  to 
tury.  have  made  considerable  advances.     Commercial  cities  had 

grown  up  and  become  flourishing  along  the  whole  coast 
from  Friesland  to  the  Rhine,  especially  along  the  banks  of 
that  great  river.  It  is  evident  that  the  Britons  had  become 
considerable  traders  in  all  those  quarters.  The  site  of  mod- 
ern London  was  passed  and  repassed  by  Csesar,  but  nothing 
existed  there  at  that  time  to  attract  his  attention.  lie  does 
not  name  it.  A  hundred  years  later,  Londinum  had  not 
only  come  into  existence,  but  had  become  a  place  of  great 
traffic.  Tlie  people  resident  there,  were  partly  foreigners, 
who  had  settled  there  for  the  purposes  of  trade,  and  partly 
natives  who  were  disposed  to  occupy  themselves  in  industri- 
ous callings.  Tlie  most  powerful  prince  at  that  time  in 
Britain  was  Cunobeline,  the  successor  of  Cassivelaunus  as 
king  of  the  Trinobantes.  Camulodunum,  his  capital,  stood 
on  the  ground  wdiere  Colchester  has  since  stood.  Coins 
were  struck  there  in  his  name,  with  Latin  inscriptions,  which 
bespeak  considerable  progress  in  art  and  trade,  and  a  free 
intercourse,  not  only  with  Gaul,  but  with  countries  more 
remote.  Camulodunum  w^as  only  one  among  many  cities 
which,  with  their  adjacent  towns  and  villages,  covered  the 
large  territory  subject  to  the  sway  of  Cunobeline.  In  these 
later  times  the  curious  and  the  idle  in  Rome  were  often 
gratified  by  seeing  distinguished  persons  of  both  sexes  among 
them  from  this  island.  In  the  popular  literature  of  Rome 
mention  is  often  made  of  Britain,  and  the  mention  is  of  a 
kind  to  show  that  the  Britons  of  the  time  of  Claudius  must 
have  been  a  very  different  people  from  those  described  by 
Caesar.  There  is,  indeed,  room  to  suspect,  tljat  as  Caesar 
could  not  conquer  Britain,  he  had  his  reasons  for  conveying 
the  impression  that  it  was  not  really  worth  conquering. 

*  Tacitus,  Agric.  §  xiii. 


EEVOLUTION   BY   THE   SWOED.  25 

However  this  may  have  been,  the  Britain  which  did  ulti-   book  l 


Chap.  2. 


mately  submit  to  the  autliority  of  Rome  was  certainly  a 
country  of  considerable  industry  and  wealth.  If  the  Britons 
of  Caesar's  time  were  w^ont  to  delight  in  human  sacrifices, 
to  paint  or  staiA  their  bodies  in  barbarous  fashion,  and  to 
have  the  wives  of  a  family  in  common,  nothing  of  this  would 
seem  to  apply  to  the  Britons  described  by  Tacitus  and  Dion 
Cassius.  This  is  a  fact  of  importance  in  relation  to  our  early 
history,  and  should  be  marked  by  the  student. 

In    the  time   of    Caligula,   who    succeeded  his  uncle  Malcontent 
Tiberius,    Cunobeline  banished  his   son   Adminius.      Thetoiiomofor 

redress, 

exile  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  emperor,  and  affected 
to  surrender  tlie  British  territory  to  Eoman  protection. 
Caligula  announced  the  event  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  peo- 
ple as  an  affair  of  great  moment,  and  gave  orders  that 
an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  should  be  at  once 
assembled  on  the  coast  of  Gaul.  The  army  was  brought 
together.  In  its  presence  the  royal  galley  was  rowed  off 
with  much  ceremony  into  the  sea.  The  emperor  then  return- 
ed to  the  land,  ascended  a  lofty  throne,  and  amidst  the 
sound  of  trumpets  gave  signal  to  his  soldiers  as  if  for  an 
engagement.  But  when  the  legions  inquired  for  the  enemy,  ^^^'^^J^"^^ 
they  were  told  that  they  had  witnessed  the  conquest  of  the 
ocean,  and  that  they  were  to  disperse  and  gather  shells  on 
the  beach  as  in  token  of  their  triumph !  Such  are  the  men 
who  come  to  be  masters  over  armies  and  nations  when 
armies  and  nations  come  to  deserve  no  better.  Tlie  syco- 
phant Senate  decreed  to  this  man  the  honours  of  a  triumph. 
This  was  in  a.  d.  40.^" 

We  hear  no  more  of  Adminius.  But  three  years  later  a 
British  prince  named  Beric  solicited  help  from  the  Emperor 
Claudius  against  his  competitors  for  power  in  this  country. 
It  thus  seems  to  have  grown  into  a  usage  for  aggrieved 
parties  in  Britain  to  make  their  appeal  to  Rome ;  and  it 
was  in  vain,  it  seems,  that  the  Britons  demanded  that  such 
malcontents  should  be  delivered  up  to  them.  The  emperor 
did  not  want  a  pretext  for  the  invasion  of  Britain.     The 

*  Suetonius,  Calig.  46,  4Y.     Dion  Cass.  lix.  §  25. 


26 


CELTS   AND   EO:MANS. 


BOOK  I. 
CuAP.  2, 


Invasion 
under  Plau- 
tius  and 
Claudius. 


non-payment  of  the  tribute  was  a  sufficient  plea.  Clau- 
dius remembered  that  Caesar's  invasion  of  Britain,  futile  as 
it  was,  had  contributed  not  a  little  to  his  fame ;  and  he  hoped 
that  he  might  accomplish  what  that  great  commander  had 
only  attempted.  But  Aulus  Plautius,  a  general  of  high 
reputation,  was  chosen  to  collect  the  necessary  forces,  and  to 
commence  the  war.  The  general  found  his  legions  strongly 
opposed  to  the  enterprise.  They  spoke  of  the  treachery  of 
the  British  coast,  and  of  the  difficulties  that  w^ould  arise 
from  the  nature  of  the  country,  and  the  mode  of  warfare 
pursued  by  the  people.  They  became,  in  fact,  mutinous. 
But  the  emperor  insisted  on  obedience,  and  after  a  while 
they  returned  to  their  duty.  The  force  embarked  consisted 
of  four  legions,  about  twenty-five  thousand  men,  besides 
a  complement  of  auxiliaries,  probably  not  less  numerous. 
The  adverse  weather  which  the  armament  encountered  was 
very  much  what  the  veterans  had  predicted.  But  the  ships 
had  been  separated  into  three  divisions,  as  a  precaution 
against  local  disasters;  and  after  sorne  delay  landing  was 
effected  by  them  all  without  resistance,  apparently  at  Kicli- 
borough,  Lymne  and  Dover.  The  Britons  had  heard  of  the 
mutinous  spirit  among  the  soldiers,  and  had  been  willing  to 
believe  that  the  project  would  be  abandoned.  But  this  false 
confidence  was  soon  at  an  end. 

The  duty  of  resistance  rested  mainly  with  the  Trino- 
bantes,  who  were  in  the  first  rank  among  the  Britons  of 
the  south.  Cunobeline,  the  king  of  that  people,  deputed 
the  command  to  his  sons  Caractacus  and  Togodumnus. 
The  Britons  knew  the  disadvantage  that  would  attend  them 
in  an  open  encounter  with  such  an  enemy.  They  con- 
trived to  annoy  the  invaders  from  tlie  skirts  of  the  forests 
and  the  marsh,  and  from  the  banks  of  rivers.  In  this  kind 
of  w^arfarc  the  general  found  his  auxiliaries  more  available 
than  his  legions.  To  the  astonishment  of  tlie  natives,  tlie 
Batavian  horse  swam  across  a  broad  river  and  attacked 
them  on  the  opposite  bank.  Tliis  river  we  suppose  was  the 
Thames.  If  not  the  Thames,  it  must  have  been  the  Severn, 
and  our  knowledge  on  this  sxibject,  limited  as  it  is,  forbids 
our  supposing  that  Plautius  had  penetrated   so  far.      In 


BEVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWOED.  27 

one  of  these  river  conflicts,  Togodumnns,  the  British  leader,  book  l 
was  slain.  On  most  occasions  the  advantage  seems  to  have  — - 
been  with  the  Eomans.  But  though  much  danger  had 
been  braved,  nothing  decisive  had  been  done.  It  was  in 
this  campaign  that  Vespasian,  the  emperor  of  a  later  day, 
gave  the  first  proof  of  his  high  military  genius.  In  his  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy  he  was  one  day  so  hemnjed  in  that  his 
escape  seemed  to  be  impossible.  But  his  son  Titus,  who  saw 
his  danger,  rushed  upon  his  assailants  with  such  ardour  that 
they  fell  in  all  directions,  and  his  father  was  saved.* 

Plan  tins  no  doubt  knew  that  to  acquire  distinction  in 
this  war,  whether  deservedly  or  not,  would  be  grateful  to 
the  emperor.  He  was  to  apprise  his  sovereign  if  the  pos- 
ture of  affairs  should  be  such  as  to  require  his  presence ; 
and  his  presence  was  hardly  solicited  before  he  was  on 
his  way  towards  the  army  encamped  near  the  Thames. 
The  camp  was  impatient  for  his  arrival.  It  was  a  new 
thing  for  the  legions  to  have  an  emperor  at  their  head,  not 
merely  on  parade,  but  in  a  real  war.  All  were  intent  on 
some  achievement  worthy  of  the  occasion.  Camulodunum 
itself  was  the  first  point  of  attack.  That  city  consisted  of 
a  large  enclosure  including,  beside  the  residence  of  the  chief, 
many  of  the  houses  and  huts  of  his  people,  with  space  used 
for  the  shelter  of  flocks  and  herds  in  time  of  danger.  The 
Trinobantes  faced  the  enemy  in  front  of  their  capital. 
But  the  issue  was  against  them.  Claudius  was  hailed  as 
'  imperator '  by  the  army  several  times  in  the  space  of  six- 
teen days,  which  seems  to  say  that  it  cost  more  than  one 
struggle  to  accomplish  the  fall  of  so  powerful  a  section  of 
the  British  people.  But  the  subjection  was  complete. 
Claudius  returned  to  Rome.  The  Senate  not  only  decreed 
him  a  triumph,  but  gave  him  the  name  of  Britannicus,  pro- 
vided that  the  name  should  pass  from  the  father  to  the 
son,  instituted  annual  games  in  commemoration  of  the 
event,  and  reared  triumphal  arches  in  Rome  and  in  Gaul.f 

Claudius,  on  leaving  Britain,  assigned  the  territory  north 

*  Dion  Cass.  lib.  Ix.  §  30.     Suetonius,  Claud,  xvi.-xxiv.  Tacitus,  Ac/ric. 
xiii. 

f  Dion  Cass.  lib.  Ix.  §  23. 


28  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

BOOK  T.  of  tlie  TKames  to  tlie  care  of  Plantius,  and  that  on  the 
— '- '  soutli  side  of  the  river  to  Yespasian.  But  Britain  was  not 
yet  conquered.  The  natives  were  still  for  the  greater  part 
in  arms.  Caractacus  was  not  among  those  who  had  made 
submission.  He  ceased  not  to  harass  the  detachments  under 
Plantius.  "VYliatever  loss  he  sustained  seemed  to  be  sj)eedily 
repaired,  and  the  courage  of  himself  and  of  his  followers 
remained  unbroken.  During  the  five  years  that  Plantius 
held  command  in  Britain  Caractacus  pursued  this  course 
towards  him  without  intermission.  In  the  south  Yespasian 
kept  his  footing,  but  with  difiiculty,  and  at  the  cost  of  fight- 
ing more  than  thirty  battles. 
Plantius  In  A.D.  50,  Publius  Ostorius  was  appointed  srovernor  of 

by  Ostorius.  Britain.  He  found  the  country  in  a  very  unsettled  state. 
The  winter  season  was  approaching.  The  new  general  hav- 
ing a  new  army  to  command,  the  Britons  presumed  that  he 
was  not  likely  to  commence  operations  before  the  spring. 
Filled  with  this  idea,  they  began  ravaging  the  different 
parts  of  the  island  that  had  submitted  to  the  Boman  yoke. 
Ostorius  saw  that  the  enemy  must  be  at  once  made  sensible 
that  they  had  a  man  of  promptitude  and  vigor  to  deal  with. 
He  summoned  his  cohorts,  and  marched  rapidly  from  place 
to  place.  The  Britons  were  generally  taken  by  surprise, 
and  cut  to  pieces  or  dispersed.  To  secure  the  advantages 
thus  gained,  a  chain  of  forts  was  raised  along  the  banks  of 
the  Avon  and  on  the  Gloucestershire  side  of  the  Severn.  It 
was  hoped  that  the  malcontent  feeling  among  the  Britons 
w^ould  be  shut  up  by  this  means  within  the  space  beyond 
those  rivers. 
Defeat  But  the  Iccuians,  whose  country  embraced  a  great  part 

iceniaus,  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Cambridgeshire,  and  Huntingdonshire, 
and  who  had  not  hitherto  committed  themselves  against  the 
Bomans,  now  took  up  arms  on  the  side  of  their  country. 
Some  adjacent  states  joined  them,  and  an  undue  estimate 
of  their  strength,  so  common  with  uncivilized  men,  disposed 
them  to  challenge  a  decisive  action.  The  spot  chosen  by 
them  was  enclosed  by  a  high  embankment  of  earth,  leaving 
only  one  point  as  an  entrance  from  the  level  ground.  This 
seemed  to  render  the  Roman  cavalry  useless.     But  Ostorius 


EEVOLTJTION   BY   THE    SWOKD.  29 

ordered  the  men  to  dismount,  and  to  join  witli  tlie  infantry   book  i. 
in  storming  the  place.     Tlie  assault  was  successful.     The     — '—' 
Britons,  shut  in  by  their  own  fortifications,  and  pressed  from 
many  points,  were  thrown  into  disorder.     But  their  courage 
did  not  fail  them.     '  They  fought  to  the  last,'  says  Tacitus, 
*  and  gave  signal  proofs  of  heroic  bravery.' 

From  the  country  of  the  Icenians  Ostorius  marched 
against  the  disaifected  in  Cheshire  and  Lancashire.  But 
Cheshire  and  Lancashire  were  very  rude  and  thinly  peopled 
districts  in  those  days.  The  Britons  in  those  parts  avoided 
any  general  engagement.  While  overrunning  those  quarters, 
news  came  that  the  Brigantes,  on  the  other  side  of  the  York- 
shire hills,  were  in  arms.  Scarcely  had  tranquillity  been 
restored  in  that  direction,  when  it  was  reported  that  the  Si- 
lures  had  again  taken  the  field. 

The  Silures,  besides  being  the  bravest,  and  tlie  most  skill-  an™tho*^"^ 
ed  in  their  own  kind  of  warfare,  among  the  Britons,  were  enures. 
filled  with  confidence  at  this  juncture  by  the  presence  of 
Caractacus — a  chief  whose  valour  and  enterprise  had  made 
his  name  familiar  to  the  whole  island.  'No  man  better  knew 
the  country,  and  no  man  could  better  avail  himself  of  its 
advantages  against  an  enemy.  Having  drawn  to  his  stand- 
ard from  his  own  territory,  and  from  other  parts,  all  who 
were  most  disposed  to  look  on  submission  to  Rome  as  servi- 
tude, he  resolved  to  place  his  fortune  on  the  issue  of  a  bat- 
tle. The  spot  chosen  by  him  is  supposed  to  have  been  near 
the  hill  called  Caer-Caradoc,  in  Shropshire,  where  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Clune  and  the  Tame  join.  The  slopes  descend- 
ing from  this  position  were  rough  and  steep,  and  it  was  pro- 
tected in  other  parts  by  a  rampart  formed  of  huge  stones, 
while  the  land  below  was  bordered  by  a  river,  not  formida- 
ble, but  in  places  of  uncertain  footing.  Between. the  moun- 
tain fortress  and  the  river,  Caractacus  disposed  his  warriors 
in  the  order  of  battle.  The  chiefs  were  seen  busy  in  mar- 
shalling their  followers.  All  did  what  they  could  to  banish 
the  idea  of  fear,  and  to  stimulate  their  men  to  the  utmost. 
Caractacus  himself  was  in  every  part  of  the  field,  and  his 
brave  v/ords,  as  he  flew  from  rank  to  rank,  called  forth 
shouts  of  applause.     All  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 


30 


CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  2. 


Defeat  of 
Caractacus. 


to  prefer  death  to  slavery.  The  sight  was  not  a  IJttle  men- 
acing. Ostorius  looked  at  it  with  misgiving.  First  he  saw 
a  river  to  be  forded  ;  then  a  stockade  to  be  forced  ;  then  a 
steep  and  craggy  hill-side  to  be  surmounted  ;  and  last,  a  suc- 
cession of  rude  forts  to  be  taken,  which  the  fierce  multitude 
before  him  were  prepared  to  defend  to  the  utmost.  But 
the  Roman  soldiers  did  not  share  in  the  manifest  hesitancy 
of  their  general — they  showed  themselves  impatient  for  the 
onset.  Yalour  can  do  all  things,  was  their  cry,  and  the 
ofiicers  joined  in  the  cry  of  their  men.  Let  it  so  be,  was  the 
answer  of  Ostorius.  The  general  looked  carefully  to  the 
ground,  and  having  marked  the  weaker  points  of  the  enemy, 
gave  the  signal  for  battle.  The  river  was  soon  crossed,  and 
tlie  Romans  made  their  way  to  the  parapet.  But  there  the 
missive  weapons  of  the  natives  fell  like  hail  upon  their  as- 
sailants, and  the  advantage  was  with  the  Britons.  Checked 
thus  formidably,  Ostorius  ordered  his,  men  to  advance  under 
a  military  shell — a  sort  of  roofing  over  their  persons  formed 
by  conjoining  their  shields.  Under  this  covering  they  once 
more  approached  the  parapet,  and  succeeded  in  levelling 
the  loose  and  massive  stones  which  had  served  the  Britons 
as  an  elevated  breastwork.  Tlie  Britons  retreated  in  some 
disorder  to  the  summit  of  the  hill ;  the  Romans  pressed 
eagerly  upon  them  under  a  destructive  shower  of  darts.  In 
the  hand-to-hand  struggle  which  ensued  matters  were  not 
equal.  'No  helmet  covered  the  head  of  the  Briton,  no  coat 
of  mail  protected  his  breast.  The  swords  and  javelins  of 
the  legions,  and  the  sabres  and  spears  of  the  auxiliaries 
proved  irresistible.  Tlie  slaughter  which  followed  was  great, 
and  the  issue  was  decisive.  Among  the  captives  were  the 
brother,  the  daughter,  and  the  wife  of  Caractacus.  The  bat- 
tle of  Caer-Caradoc  was  to  the  Britons  what  the  battle  of 
Hastings  became  to  the  Anglo-Saxons.  If  there  was  a  dif- 
ference, it  consisted  mainly  in  the  fact  that  the  struggle  of 
the  Britons  in  defence  of  their  freedom  before  that  day,  and 
their  efforts  to  recover  it  when  really  lost,  were  greater  than 
will  be  found  in  the  corresponding  period  of  Anglo-Saxon 
history.  But  the  cause  of  this  difference  should  perhaps 
be  sought-,  not  so  much  in  the  greater  courage  of  the  Brit- 


KEVOLUTION   BY   THE   SWORD.  31 

on,  as  in  the  better  power  of  calculation  possessed  by  the   book  l 
Saxon.  ""H^- 

'  Caractacus,'  says  Tacitus,  '  fled  for  protection  to  Cartis-  "is  en- 
mandua,  queen  of  the  Brigantes.  But  adversity  has  no  Eome. 
friends.  By  that  princess  he  was  loaded  with  irons,  and 
delivered  up  to  the  conqueror.  He  had  waged  war  with  the 
Romans  during  the  last  nine  years.  His  fame  was  not  con- 
fined to  his  native  island  :  it  passed  into  the  provinces  and 
spread  all  over  Italy.  Curiosity  was  eager  to  behold  the 
heroic  chieftain  who  for  such  a  length  of  time  made  head 
against  -a  great  and  pow^erful  empire.  Even  at  Eome  the 
name  of  Caractacus  was  in  high  celebrity.  The  emperor, 
willing  to  magnify  the  glory  of  the  conquest,  bestowed  the 
highest  praise  on  the  valour  of  the  vanquished  king.  He 
assembled  the  people  to  behold  a  spectacle  worthy  of  their 
view.  In  the  field  before  the  camp  the  praetorian  bands 
were  drawn  ap  under  arms.  The  followers  of  the  British 
chief  walked  in  procession.  The  military  accoutrements, 
the  harness  and  rich  collars,  which  he  had  gained  in  vari- 
ous battles,  were  displayed  with  pomp.  The  wife  of  Carac- 
tacus, his  daughter,  and  his  brother  followed  next ;  he  him- 
self closed  the  melancholy  train.  The  rest  of  the  prisoners, 
struck  with  terror,  descended  to  mean  and  abject  suppli- 
cations. Caractacus  alone  was  superior  to  misfortune ! 
With  a  countenance  still  unalterated,  not  a  symjDtom  of  fear 
appearing,  no  sorrow,  no  condescension,  he  behaved  with 
dignity  even  in  ruin.' 

We  all  remember  the  interest  with  which  we  have  read 
this  passage  of  history  in  our  early  years,  the  sympathy 
with  which  we  have  listened  to  the  fitting  and  noble  senti- 
ments which  the  captive  prince  has  been  made  to  utter  on 
that  occasion,  and  the  delight  with  which  we  have  seen  the 
chains  of  the  captives  struck  off,  and  heard  the  gracious 
words  with  which  both  the  emperor  and  the  empress  pro- 
nounced them  free.*  On  the  following  morning  the  Senate 
described  the  victory  over  Caractacus  as  not  inferior  in  im- 
portance to  the  great  events  in  the  past  days  of  Roman  his- 

*  It  is  probable  that  in  the  quiet  and  prosperous  times  before  the  invasion  under 
Claudius,  Caractacus  was  under  the  care  of  Koman  teachers.  No  prince  in  Gaul 
would  have  been  without  that  advantage. 


32  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

BOOK  I.    tory — as  when  Syphax  was  led  in  chains  through  the  city 


Chap.  2. 


by  Publius  Scipio,  when  Pertinax  aj)peared  among  them  as 
the  captive  of  Lucius  Paulus,  and  w^hen  kings  and  princes 
were  seen  by  the  Koman  people  at  the  chariot  wheels  of 
other  commanders.* 

not'sS-*^"^        But  even  the  fate  of  Caractacus  did  not  extinguish  the 

ducd.  hopes  of  the  Silures.  Tliey  fell  incessantly  upon  all  stragglers 
and  small  detachments  of  the  enemy.  In  one  instance  two 
whole  cohorts  were  cut  off  and  destroyed  by  them.  Other 
tribes,  encouraged  by  their  successes,  joined  them  in  this 
kind  of  warfare.  Ostorius  had  so  much  experience  of  this 
nature  that  he  learnt  to  describe  the  Silures  as- a  people  who 
would  never  be  conquered — their  extirpation  only,  lie  said, 
could  bring  peace  to  the  Roman  settlement  in  Britain.  In 
the  midst  of  these  hostilities  Ostorius  died.  The  Britons 
looked  on  the  event  as  more  important  to  them  than  a  great 
victory.  Before  the  arrival  of  his  successor  a  chief  named 
Yenusius,  then  at  the  head  of  the  countrymen  of  Caracta- 
cus, defeated  a  whole  legion  under  the  command  of  Manlius 
Yalens.  Avitus  Didius  Gallus  was  the  officer  sent  in  the 
place  of  Ostorius.  Didius  restored  the  confidence  of  the 
army  by  a  severe  defeat  of  the  Britons.  But  Didius  was 
an  old  man,  not  equal  to  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  such  a 
war.  The  conduct  of  it  was  left  in  consequence,  for  the 
most  part,  to  subordinate  officers.  One  of  these,  however, 
gained  a  victory  over  a  considerable  army  of  Britons.  In 
A.  D.  58  Didius  was  succeeded  by  Yeranius,  who  made  suc- 
cessful incursions  into  the  territories  of  the  disaffected,  but 
died  within  a  year  after  his  arrival.     The  chief  command  in 

Suetonius.  Britain  then  passed  to  the  hands  of  Caius  Suetonius  Pauli- 
nus,  one  of  the  ablest  generals  in  the  service  of  the  empire. 
Suetonius  was  a  man  of  great  ambition,  bent  on  being  not 

I  less  distinguished  than  the  greatest  commander  of  his  time  ; 

and  Britain  was  the  field  in  which  this  dream  of  eminence 
was  to  be  realized. f 

Yenusius,  who  had  defeated  the  Eoman  legion  under 
Manlius,  had  married  Cartismandua,  the  queen  of  the  Bri- 

*  Tacitus,  Ann.  xii.  82-38.     Agric.  xiv 
f  Ibid.  xii.  40 ;  xiv.  29.     Hist.  iii.  45. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  33 

gantes,  the  woman  wlio  had  betrayed  Caractacus.  The  dis-  book  i. 
affection  called  forth  among  the  subjects  of  Cartismandua  "^^' 
by  her  treachery,  and  some  other  causes,  led  to  a  civil  war, 
in  which  the  party  adhering  to  the  queen  sought  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Romans  ;  while  Yenusius,  her  husband,  who 
had  been  her  armour-bearer,  and  whom  she  had  married 
since  she  became  queen,  called  upon  her  to  surrender  her 
sovereignty  to  him,  and  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
Britons  who  were  in  arms  against  the  invaders.  Since 
the  defeat  of  Caractacus,  Yenusius  was  the  most  able  com- 
mander among  the  natives. 

Suetonius  was  aware  that  religion,  hardly  less  than  pa-  sianghtw 
triotism,  contributed  to  keep  alive  the  disaffection  of  the  Druids. 
Britons.  In  their  transactions  with  the  Gauls  the  Romans 
had  learnt  to  regard  the  Druids  with  distrust  and  aversion. 
The  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  so  firmly  avowed 
by  those  ministers  of  religion,  and  received  with  so  much 
confidence  from  their  lips  by  their  people,  was  an  offence 
to  the  Roman,  who  was  pleased  to  regard  his  own  scepticism 
on  all  subjects  of  that  nature  as  a  result  to  be  expected  from 
civilized  modes  of  thought.  In  this  Druid  teaching,  the 
natural  in  man  gave  the  lie  to  the  artificial,  and  the  artifi- 
cial could  hardly  fail  to  be  displeased.  This  presumption 
of  barbarism,  moreover,  was  a  presumption  of  which  a  po- 
tent use  was  made.  The  hold  upon  the  future  which  this 
doctrine  gave  to  the  Druid  made  him  master  of  the  present. 
By  filling  the  mind  of  the  people  with  false  hopes  from  this 
source,  he  could  at  pleasure  stimulate  them  to  insurrection 
and  to  the  most  daring  enterprises.  Thus  the  Druids  were 
politically  formidable  ;  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  their  ex- 
termination, the  most  atrocious  things  were  laid  to  their 
charge.  Historians,  orators^  and  poets  contrasted  the  dark 
forests  of  the  priests  of  Gaul  and  Britain  with  the  sylvan 
scenes  which  had  been  sacred  to  religion  in  Greece  and 
Italy  ;  and  to  the  gay  ceremonies  and  the  festive  pleasures 
of  their  own  worship,  they  opposed  the  Druid  priests  slay- 
ing human  victims,  lustrating  the  trees  of  the  forest  with 
'human  gore,  and  calling  up  every  horror  that  might  scare 
the  imagination,  and  make  the  worshippers  their  victims. 
Vol.  I.— 3 


34 


CELTS   AND   KOMAKS. 


BOOK  I.  In  reading  such  descriptions  it  becomes  ns  to  remember  that 
— '-'  it  had  been  ruled  that  the  Druids  should  be  disposed  of,  and 
it  had  become  expedient  to  give  the  bad  name  as  prelimi- 
nary to  that  proceeding.  Even  Augustus  infringed  his  gen- 
eral law  of  tolerance  by  forbidding  any  observance  of  the 
Druidical  rites  in  Kome.  Tiberius  went  further,  and  Clau- 
dius not  only  decreed  the  extinction  of  those  rites  even  in 
Gaul,  but  acted  on  that  decree  with  much  rigour.  In  Brit- 
ain, the  island  of  Mona,  now  Anglesea,  was  known  to  be 
the  stronghold  of  the  Druids,  and  Suetonius  resolved  to  as- 
sail them  in  that  retreat. 

Ostorius  had  carried  the  Roman  eagles  far  in  that  direc- 
tion. There  were  British  roads  along  which  infantry  and 
cavalry  might  march  even  to  such  distances,  without  diffi- 
culty ;  but  the  baggage  and  provision  departments  would 
remain  to  task  the  patience  and  ingenuity  of  a  commander. 
The  approach  of.  Suetonius  to  the  Menai  Strait  .would  prob- 
ably be  from  Chester.  On  reaching  its  bank,  the  general 
issued  orders  that  flat-bottomed  boats  should  be  prepared 
to  convey  the  infantry  across.  The  cavalry  were  to  endeav- 
X  our  to  ford,  and  if  that  should  be  found  impracticable,  the 
men  were  to  take  their  place  in  the  boats,  and  to  draw  their 
horses  through  the  ^ater  after  them.  We  shall  allow  Taci- 
tus to  describe  the  scene  which  presented  itself  as  the  Eo- 
man  soldiers  approached  the  opposite  shore,  and  what  fol- 
lowed when  a  landing  was  secured.  '  The  shore  of  the  isl- 
and was  lined  with  the  hostile  araiy,  in  which  were  women 
dressed  in  dark  and  dismal  garments,  with  their  hair  stream- 
ing to  the  wind,  bearing  torches  in  their  hands,  and  running 
like  furies  up  and  down  the  ranks.  Around  stood  the 
Druids,  with  hands  spread  to  heaven,  and  uttering  dreadful 
prayers  and  imprecations.  Tlie  novelty  of  the  sight  struck 
our  soldiers  with  dismay,  so  that  they  stood  as  if  petrified — 
a  mark  for  the  enemy's  javelins.  At  length,  animated  by 
their  general,  and  encouraging  one  another  not  to  fear  an 
army  of  women  and  fanatics,  they  rushed  upon  the  enemy, 
bore  down  all  before  them,  and  involved  them  in  their  own 
fires.  The  troops  of  the  enemy  were  completely  defeated,  a 
garrison  placed  in  the  island,  and  the  groves  which  had 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWOED.  35 

been  the  consecrated  scenes  of  tlie  most  barbarous  supersti-  book  l 
tions  were  levelled  to  the  ground.'  '^  Such  were  the  sights  ^"^'  ^' 
to  be  seen  some  eighteen  centuries  since,  on  a  spot  where 
modern  science  has  erected  some  of  its  most  wonderful  tro- 
phies. The  Menai  Strait  is  at  present  almost  a  fairy  land, 
so  rich  is  it  both  from  art  and  from  nature.  Coupled  with 
the  surrounding  scenery,  and  seen  under  the  sunlight  of  a 
summer  evening,  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  scenes  in 
Europe,  hardly  exceeded  in  loveliness  by  the  shores  of  Greece 
or  the  passage  of  the  Bosphorus. 

While  the  severe  policy  of  Suetonius,  so  characteristic  oppressive 
of  the  military  history  of  ancient  Rome,  was  producing  its  Komans.  * 
natural  effect  on  the  mind  of  the  Britons,  another  feature  of 
the  Eoman  ascepdency,  was  calling  forth  the  effects  no  less 
natural  to  it  elsewhere.  The  destructiveness  of  the  Roman 
sword  was  not  more  notorious  than  the  rapacity  of  Roman 
officials.  The  writings  of  Roman  authors  teem  with  evi- 
dence on  this  subject.  In  the  times  now  under  review,  the 
solicitude  of  nearly  all  educated  men  in  Rome  was  to  secure 
some  government  appointment,  and  having  obtained  it,  to 
use  every  available  expedient  to  make  it  as  productive  as 
possible,  and  in  as  short  a  time  as  possible.  The  descriptions 
of  the  extortion,  fraud,  and  violence  resorted  to  by  this  class 
of  men,  are  often  so  revolting  as  to  seem  almost  incredible. 
Of  wrongs  in  this  form  a  full  share  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  subju- 
gated Britons.  I^ero  was  now  upon  the  throne,  and  the  sea- 
son was  one  of  more  than  ordinary  licence  among  the  impe- 
rial officers  in  the  provinces.f 

Prasutafi^us,  who  ruled  over  the  Iceni,  had  lon^  been  the  insurrec- 

^       '  .  7  o  tj^jn  under 

ally  of  Rome.  He  was  known  to  be  a  man  of  some  wealth ;  Boadicea. 
and  in  the  hope  of  securing  at  least  the  half  of  it  to  his  fam- 
ily, he  left  it  to  be  divided  equally  between  his  daughters 
and  the  emperor.  But  Catus,  the  procurator,  seized  the 
whole,  and  the  military  at  the  same  time  took  possession  of 
the  country.  Boadicea,  the  widow  of  Prasutagus,  protested 
against  these  proceedings.  To  punish  her  presumption,  she 
was  scourged  in  the  manner  of  a  slave  ;  and  her  daughters 
were  taken  from  her  by  the  officers  and  dishonoured.     If 

*  Tacit.  Ajin.  xiv.  30.    Agric.  xiv.  f  Tacitus,  Ann.  lib.  xiv. 


36  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.    such  a  course  could  be  taken  towards  such  persons,  we  may 


Chap.  2, 


imagine  what  the  grievances  were  which  often  fell  on  par- 
ties in  inferior  conditions.  In  fact,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that 
the  language  of  the  Britons  at  this  juncture  was  such  as 
Tacitus  has  attributed  to  them.  Our  sons,  they  said,  are 
torn  from  us,  and  made  to  serve  in  the  Roman  annies,  as  if 
it  became  them  to  be  prepared  to  die  for  anything  rather 
than  for  their  country.  Our  houses  are  entered  at  all  hours 
by  mean  and  licentious  officials,  who  rob  us  according  to 
their  pleasure.  The  head  of  the  military  plays  the  tyrant 
over  our  persons,  and  the  head  of  the  government  plays  the 
spoliator  in  regard  to  our  substance ;  and  between  them 
they  make  life  not  worth  possessing,  if  to  be  possessed  only 
under  such  conditions.  Tlie  rich  and  the ,  poor  are  fast  de- 
scending to  one  level,  and  the  strong  are  made  to  submit  to 
every  sort  of  humiliation  from  the  hands  of  the  weak.  Our 
forefathers  resisted  Caesar,  and  the  enemy  was  taught  to  re- 
spect our  coast  for  a  hundred  years  to  come.  To  be  as  free  as 
our  fathers,  we  have  only  to  be  as  resolved  and  as  brave.* 
That  the  Britons  thought  and  felt  in  this  manner  we  can 
readily  believe,  whatever  doubt  we  may  have  of  their  abil- 
ity to  express  themselves  exactly  in  such  terms. 
Massacre  of  While  Suctonius  was  engaged  in  his  expedition  against 
mans".^  Moua,  discoursc  to  this  effect  became  general  and  loud 
among  the  natives  ;  and  the  treatment  of  Boadicea  and  her 
daughters  sufficed  to  raise  the  embers  of  disaffection,  every- 
where existing,  into  a  flame.  The  Britons  assembled  in  vast 
multitudes.  Every  day  added  to  their  numbers.  Their 
first  onset  was  at  Camulodunum.  In  that  settlement,  for 
some  weeks  before,  strange  sights,  and  unnatural  voices,  at 
the  dead  of  night,  had  seemed  to  betoken  the  approach  of 
some  great  calamity.  "When  the  outbreak  began,  the  Brit- 
ons reduced  everything  in  Camulodunum  to  ashes,  putting 
the  garrison,  and  every  stranger,  to  the  sword.  Tlie  ninth 
legion  marched  in  the  direction  of  that  colony  in  the  hope 
of  being  in  time  to  save  the  garrison.  But  they  were 
met  by  the  insurgents,  surrounded,  and  the  whole  of  the  in- 
fantry destroyed.     Petilius,  the  commander,  and  a  portion 

*  Tacitus,  Ann.  lib.  xiv. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  3T 

of  the  cavalry,  were  all  tliat  could  escape.     Catus  Decianus,   ^^^^  ^ 
the  obnoxious  procurator,  with  the  courage  generally  found     — - 
in  such  men,  hurried  to  the  coast,  and  sought  refuge  in 
Gaul. 

Suetonius,  on  receiving  tidings  of  these  events,  prepared 
to  move  southward.  He  had  achieved  a  difficult  enterprise, 
but  he  had  now  to  retrace  his  steps,  and  to  find  himself  beset 
*  with  new  dangers.  He  found  the  country  everywhere  in 
the  hands  of  the  insurgents.  In  the  language  of  Tacitus — 
'  He  marched  through  the  midst  of  the  enemy  to  Londinum 
[London],  which  was  not  yet  honoured  with  the  name  of  a 
colony,  but  considerable  from  the  resort  of  merchants  and 
from  its  trade.  Here,  hesitating  whether  he  should  make 
that  town  the  seat  of  war,  he  considered  how  weak  the  gar- 
rison was,  and,  warned  by  the  check  which  Petilius  had  in- 
curred by  his  rashness,  he  determined  to  preserve  the  whole 
by  sacrificing  one  town.  Xor  did  the  tears  and  lamenta- 
tions of  the  people  imploring  his  assistance,  prevent  him 
from  giving  the  signal  for  marching,  though  he  received 
into  his  army  all  who  were  disposed  to  follow  him.  But  all 
those  whom  the  w^eakness  of  sex,  or  the  infirmities  of  age, 
or  attachment  to  the  place,  induced  to  stay  behind,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  same  calamity  befel  the 
municipal  town  of  Yerulam.'  '^  The  historian  adds,  that 
seventy  thousand  citizens  and  allies  were  said  to  have  per- 
ished in  those  places.  We  are  disposed  to  think,  however, 
that  the  number  of  the  slain  has  been  greatly  exaggerated. 
It  is  not  probable  that  the  population  left  in  such  circum- 
stances, in  the  town  of  Yerulam,  and  in  a  place  '  not  yet 
honoured  with  the  name  of  a  colony,'  could  have  amounted 
to  seventy  thousand.  But  that  the  destruction  was  terrific 
in  extent,  and  meant  so  to  be,  may  be  readily  believed. 

Everything  rested  now  with  the  skill  and  firmness  of 
Suetonius.  Such  w^as  the  fear  w^hicli  had  been  difiused  by 
these  disasters,  that  the  second  legion  hesitated  to  join  his 
standard.  By  collecting  contributions  of  men  from  every 
garrison,  he  succeeded  in  raising  his  army  to  ten  thousand, 
including  cavalry.     With  this  force  he  determined  to  give 

*  Ann.  lib.  xiv.  §§  xxix.  xxx. 


OO  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

oha?  2.'  ^»'^ttle  to  the  multitude  wliicli  had  obeyed  the  call  of  Eoa- 
dicea.  The  spot  chosen  by  him  gave  him  a  dense  forest  in 
the  rear,  and  an  open  plain  in  front.  The  legionaries  were 
marshalled  in  a  succession  of  deep  ranks.  The  light-armed 
troops  were  disposed  around  in  companies.  The  flanks 
were  covered  with  the  cavalry.  The  Britons  were  seen 
bounding  from  place  to  place  in  companies  and  groups.  So 
flushed  were  they  with  their  successes,  and  so  confident  of 
victory,  that  they  had  brought  their  women  with  them  in 
waggons,  to  be  the  witnesses  of  their  achievements.  The 
Koman  historians  describe  Boadicea  as  a  woman  above  the 
ordinary  stature,  with  a  countenance  expressive  of  lofty  and 
resolute  purposes.  They  speak,  as  we  have  seen,  of  her 
yellow  hair  descending  to  her  waist ;  of  her  richly  coloured 
dress,  and  her  ornaments  of  gold.  So  attired  she  rode,  with 
her  daughters,  in  her  war-chariot,  from  rank  to  rank,  ad- 
dressing patriotic  sentiments  to  one  tribe  after  another,  on 
the  eve  of  the  battle.  The  drift  of  her  appeal  is  said  to 
have  been,  that  she  thought  little  of  her  descent  from  noble 
ancestors,  or  of  her  position  as  one  possessed  of  sovereignty 
and  wealth.  She  was  before  them  as  one  of  themselves, 
and  as  such  was  prepared  to  brave  the  worst  in  the  cause 
of  their  common  liberty.  She  was  bent,  also,  on  avenging 
the  indignities  that  had  been  inflicted  on  her  person,  and 
the  dishonour  that  had  been  done  to  her  children.  Proof 
enough  had  been  given  that  no  right  or  feeling  of  humanity 
could  be  safe  where  Eome  should  be  ascendant.  Death  it- 
self was  to  be  coveted  if  compared  with  life  under  such  a 
rule.  But  the  gods,  who  had  borne  long  with  this  wicked- 
ness, would  bear  with  it  no  longer.  Hitherto  their  enemies 
had  fallen  before  them,  or  fled  to  their  hiding-places.  It 
w^as  only  needful  they  should  be  brave  as  heretofore,  and 
the  fate  of  the  second  legion  would  be  that  of  the  army  now 
in  their  view.  Their  shouts,  their  numbers,  and  their. cour- 
age would  do  all.  But  come  what  may,  should  the  men 
consent  to  live  and  to  be  slaves,  as  for  herself,  a  woman,  her 
resolve  was  to  be  victorious  or  perish. 

Suetonius,  we  may  be  sure,  needed  no  one  to  remind 
him  that  a  day  had  come  which  would  cover  him  with  dis- 


EEVOLIJTION   BY   THE    SWOKD.  39 

honour,  or  do  much  to  gratify  his  long-cherished  thirst  of  book  l 
military  renown.  We  can  imagine  him,  as  he  passes  on  his  — - ' 
war-liorse  from  rank  to  rank,  and  as  he  glances,  with  closed 
lip  and  darkened  brow,  on  the  vast  but  ill-directed  multi- 
tude spread  out  before  him.  It  was  natural  he  should  speak 
on  that  day  as  Tacitus  tells  us  he  spoke — that  he  should  ex- 
press his  scorn  of  the  savage  hordes  which  had  dared  to  face 
the  legions  of  Rome ;  and  that  he  should  aim  to  stimulate 
the  courage  of  his  men,  by  setting  forth  the  shame  and  dis- 
aster that  must  be  attendant  on  defeat,  and  the  certainty 
that  their  discipline  must  more  than  suffice  to  counterbal- 
ance any  want  of  numbers,  should  they  only  acquit  them- 
selves with  their  wonted  fidelity  and  fearlessness.  When 
the  strife  began,  the  legionaries  received  the  first  onset  of  Defeat  and 
the  Britons  in  silence,  but  retained  their  lines  unbroken.  th^Britons. 
They  then  formed  themselves  into  a  wedge-shape,  and 
marched  steadily  onward ;  the  auxiliaries  ranged  themselves 
after  the  same  manner ;  and  the  cavalry  bore  down  upon 
the  enemy  with  their  spears  levelled,  everywhere  clearing 
their  way  before  them.  The  first  charge,  however,  did  not 
decide  the  fortunes  of  that  dreadful  day.  The  Britons  ral- 
lied once  and  again.  The  legionaries  were  in  danger  of 
being  exhausted ;  but  the  issue  was  in  their  favour.  The 
natives,  once  thoroughly  disordered,  the  waggons  served  to 
impede  their  flight,  and  the  destruction  which  followed  was 
horrible.  Men,  women,  children,  the  very  beasts  which 
drew  the  carriages  of  the  Britons,  all  perished  under  the 
w^eapons  of  an  enraged  soldiery.  Eighty  thousand  natives 
are  said  to  have  fallen  on  that  day ;  and  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  those  who  give  us  these  numbers  had  the 
means,  not  only  of  estimating  their  own  work,  but  of  giving 
it  a  permanent  record.  Boadicea  was  faithful  to  her  vow — 
she  sought  death  by  poison,  rather  than  fall  into  the  hands 
of  such  an  enemy.* 

Tlie  natural  sequence  to  this  field  of  blood  would  have  chaiig*in 

.  />  11  the  Boman 

been  a  reign  of  terror,  even  more  terrible  than  any  that  policy, 
had  preceded.      But   the   imperial  government  saw  with 

*  Tacit  Ann.  xiv.   31-39.       Vita  Agric.  xv.  xvi.      Xiphilin.  ex  Dione  in 
Neron. 


40  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

BOOK  I.  alarm  the.  dangers  to  which  its  legions,  and  its  entire  author- 
— '-'  itj  in  Britain,  had  been  exposed,  and  became  concerned 
that  a  more  jnst  and  lenient  spirit  should  be  infused  into 
the  administration  for  the  time  to  come.  Suetonius,  to 
whom  such  a  policy  could  not  be  acceptable,  was  ere  long 
recalled.  Tarpilianus,  Trebellius,  and  Bolanus,  who  became 
successively  governors,  sought  peace  rather  than  conquest. 
Eight  years  from' the  defeat  of  Boadicea  thus  passed.  But 
by  this  time  the  affairs  of  the  empire  had  become  more  set- 
tled. Yespasian,  who  had  served  in  Britain,  had  become 
emperor,  and  during  the  eight  years  that  followed,  war  was 
carried  on  with  vigour  against  the  Brigantes  and  the  Si- 
lures.  Petilius  Cerealis,  a  man  of  the  highest  military  rep- 
utation, conducted  this  war  ;  and  he  was  succeeded  in  com- 
mand by  Julius  Frontinus,  who  so  acquitted  himself  as  not 
to  suffer  in  comparison  with  such  a  predecessor.  After  five 
years  of  hostility  the  Brigantes  were  made  to  profess  them- 
selves the  allies  of  Rome ;  and  three  years  later,  the  war 
against  the  Silures  was  pushed  with  such  vigour  into  the 
retreats  and  fastnesses  of  their  country,  that  their  strength 
was  finally  broken,  and  fear  of  serious  annoyance  in  the  fu- 
ture from  that  quarter  came  to  an  end.* 
Govern-  Tliesc  cvcuts  prepared  the  way  for  the  administration  of 

ment  of  Ju-  ... 

liusAgri-     Cueius  Julius  Amcola,  whose  name  has  been  made  so  fa- 

cola.  C5  ^  7 

miliar  to  later  generations  -by  the  pen  of  Tacitus,  his  son-in- 
law.  Agricola,  in  common  with  Yespasian,  had  seen  con- 
siderable service  in  Britain.  On  his  arrival,  the  Ordovices, 
one  of  the  most  warlike  of  the  British  tribes,  had  surprised 
a  detachment  of  cavalry,  and  utterly  destroyed  them.  Ag- 
ricola summoned  the  army  from  its  winter  quarters,  and  re- 
suming the  old  policy  of  governing  by  terror,  he  all  but  an- 
nihilated the  offending  nation. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  his  administration  Agricola  had 
extended  his  conquests  so  far  northward,  that  to  form  a 
boundary  of  the  Eoman  province  in  that  direction,  he  con- 
structed a  chain  of  forts  from  the  mouth  of  the  Clyde  across 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Forth — that  is,  from  Dumbarton  to 

*  Tacit.  Ann.  xiv.  3'7-39.      Vita  Agric.  viii.  xvi.  xvii.      Hist  i.  9-60; 
ii.  97. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE   SWORD.  41 

Edinburgh.  His  subsequent  campaign  along  the  eastern  book  i. 
coast  beyond  the  Forth,  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  sue-  -  ^f^L?' 
cessful.  In  one  respect  it  was  a  novelty  in  British  warfare. 
The  fleet  of  the  Komans  on  the  sea  co-operated  with  the 
army  on  the  land,  carrying  stores,  making  descents  on  the 
coast,  and  otherwise  aiding  the  plans  of  the  general.  The 
Roman  encampment,  as  it  moved  from  place  to  place  north- 
ward of  the  spot  where  Edinburgh  now  stands,  exhibited  a 
singular  mixture  of  cavalry,  infantry,  and  sailors — the  sol- 
diers and  the  seamen  vieing  with  each  other  in  their  different 
tales  of  adventure,  but  all  prosecuting  their  common  enter- 
prise in  the  same  buoyant  and  hopeful  spirit.  In  the  one 
great  engagement  of  that  season  the  advantage  w^as  with 
the  Romans  ;  but  their  losses  were  considerable  and  the  issue 
could  not  be  regarded  as  decisive.  It  was  in  the  eighth  and 
last  year  of  his  administration  that  the  military  genius  of 
Agricola  achieved  its  great  w^ork.  In  this  enterprise  the 
army  included  several  cohorts  of  Britons,  who  by  this  time 
had  been  successfully  initiated  into  the  discipline  of  the 
Roman  soldier. 

Tlie  Caledonians — the  tribes  inhabiting  the  north  and  Expedition 
the  north-west  of  Scotland — appear  to  have  regarded  this  cIS- 
campaign  as  likely  to  determine  the  future  of  their  country. 
Dismayed  as  they  had  been  at  times  by  the  skill  and  appli- 
ances of  the  Romans,  if  not  by  their  courage,  they  were  very 
far  from  having  abandoned  hope.  Old  feuds  were  forgot- 
ten. The  feeling  of  patriotism  prevailed  over  that  of  tribe 
or  clan.  The  contributions  of  armed  men  from  different 
quarters  amounted  to  more  than  thirty  thousand.  Both 
youth  and  age,  such  as  might  have  pleaded  for  exemption, 
were  present,  eagerly  proffering  their  service.  Among  the 
chiefs  at  the  head  of  those  many  gatherings,  the  greatest 
was  an  experienced  leader  named  Galgacus.  Highly  im- 
passioned appeals  are  said  to  have  been  made  by  Galgacus 
to  the  Caledonians  on  the  one  side,  and  by  Agricola  to  the 
Romans  on  the  other.  Both  parties  saw  the  interests  at 
stake,  and  both  were  impatient  for  the  fray.  On  the  one 
side  country  and  freedom  were  the  issue,  on  the  other  hon- 
our and  life. 


42 


CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  2. 


Battle  of 
Ardoch. 


Agricola  marshalled  his  eight  thousand  auxiliary  infant- 
ry in  the  centre,  and  posted  his  three  thousand  cavalry  as 
wings  to  the  footmen.  Tlie  legions  were  drawn  up  in  the 
rear,  at  the  head  of  the  entrencliments — a  reserve  of  Roman 
blood  which  was  not  to  be  spilt  unless  necessary.  The 
Caledonians  stretched  their  rank  to  a  formidable  width  on 
the  rising  ground  which  they  had  chosen.  But  their  more 
advanced  line  was  ranged  along  the  more  level  ground  to- 
wards the  foot  of  the  acclivity.  Considerable  space  remain- 
ed between  this  line  and  the  advanced  cohorts  of  the  Ro- 
mans. In  that  space  the  cavalry  and  charioteers  of  the 
Caledonians  rushed  to  and  fro  in  great  excitement.  Tliis 
show  of  numbers  and  spirit  produced  its  impression.  Agri- 
cola  spread  out  his  force  to  a  greater  breadth,  that  it  might 
be  less  unequal  to  that  of  the  enemy.  But  every  man  felt 
that  what  was  thus  gained  in  space  was  lost  in  strength. 
Some  of  the  officers  suggested  that  the  legions  in  reserve 
should  advance  to  the  lines.  But  Agricola  was  not  dispos- 
ed to  follow  such  counsel.  He  at  once  dismounted,  sent 
away  his  horse,  and  placing  himself  near  the  colours  of  the 
infantry,  the  spot  where  the  danger  was  expected  to  be 
thickest,  gave  the  signal  for  battle. 


The 


fight 


began  with  missive  weapons,  which  were 
thrown  from  a  distance.  In  this  kind  of  fighting  the  Cale- 
donians, and  the  Britons  generally,  were  more  skilled  than 
the  Romans.  Agricola  saw  that  the  advantage  was  not 
with  his  men.  He  accordingly  gave  orders  that  some  of  the 
cohorts  should  charge  the  enemy  with  the  sword.  This 
turned  the  scale.  The  small  shields  and  the  long  unpointed 
swords  of  the  Caledonians,  left  them  almost  defenceless  in  a 
close  encounter  with  such  an  enemy.  The  cohorts  not  only 
used  their  short  swords  with  great  dexterity,  but  dashed 
the  bosses  of  their  shields  on  the  exposed  heads  and  faces  of 
their  foes.  Everything  yielded  to  this  onset.  Other  cohorts 
followed  the  example  thus  set  tliem,  and  with  like  success. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  charge  of  the  Caledonian  horsemen 
and  charioteers  had  been  so  furious,  that  the  Roman  cavalry 
had  given  way.  The  narrowness  of  the  place  neutralized 
discipline  by  preventing  anything  like  a  regular  combat. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  43 

From  this  cause,  and  from  the  inequalities  of  the  ground,  book  i. 
the  greatest  confusion  ensued.  Horses  without  riders,  char-  — - 
iots  with  no  one  to  guide  them,  rushed  from  the  ranks,  and 
augmented  the  disorder.  The  reserved  Caledonian  force  on 
the  liill  now  descended  to  the  strife,  and,  by  outflanking  the 
Eomans,  hoped  to  fall  upon  their  rear.  But  Agricola  com- 
manded four  squadrons  of  horse  to  charge  this  reserved 
force,  which  they  did,  and  having  passed  through  the  line, 
wheeled  round  and  fell  upon  the  enemy  from  behind.  This 
was  the  crisis  of  the  struggle.  All  that  followed  was  car- 
nage. Many  of  the  Caledonians  fled  in  panic  where  there 
was  no  danger.  Others  refused  to  fly,  and  sold  their  lives 
as  dearly  as  brave  men  in  such  circumstances  could  sell 
them.  ]^ot  until  nightfall  did  the  Eomans  desist  from 
the  pursuit  and  the  slaughter,  chasing  the  fugitives  to  their 
last  hiding-places  in  the  hills,  the  forests,  and  the  marshes. 
Ten  thousand  of  the  Caledonians  fell  in  this  engagement. 
Tlie  loss  of  the  Romans  was  little  more  than  three  hundred. 
Such  are  the  advantages  of  military  art  and  discipline  over 
mere  military  courage. 

This  battle  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place  in  a  district 
known  as  the  moor  of  Ardoch,  at  the  foot  of  the  Grampians 
in  Perthshire.  We  can  readily  imagine  the  picture  which 
the  Eoman  historian  describes  as  seen  from  the  moor  of 
Ardoch  on  the  following  day — the  deep  and  melancholy 
silence  that  had  come  into  the  place  of  the  cry  and  uproar 
of  the  battle  ;  the  hills  deserted  ;  the  houses  of  the  natives 
in  the  distance  disappearing  in  fire  and  smoke  ;  not  a  man 
to  be  found  by  any  search  for  him  ;  all  a  vast  and  dreary 
solitude. 

By  this  victory  Amcola  may  be  said  to  have  completed  completion 

T  />     1         .  1        1         ■!->  11  ofthecon- 

the  conquest  oi  the  island.  But,  as  commonly  happens  quest  of 
where  sovereignty  is  despotic,  the  general  served  a  jealous 
and  an  ungrateful  master.  Domitian  recalled  the  successful 
soldier  to  Eome,  and  Agricola,  on  his  return,  consulted  his 
safety  by  retiring  to  private  life  for  the  remainder  of  his 
days.  In  Britain  his  genius  had  achieved  nearly  all  that 
could  be  accomplished ;  and  by  encouraging  the  arts  of 
peace  wherever  the  sword  had  ensured  tranquillity,  he  had 


44  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.    set  an  example  of  the  kind  of  service  in  which  his  successors 
— '-'    were  to  find  their  chief  occupation.* 
tranSity         Through  eighty  years  from  the  death  of  Domitian,  the 
aSS.   imperial  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands  of  wise  and  virtuous 
princes,  and  those  years  were  to  Britain  years  of  peace.     In 
A.  D.  122  the  Emperor  Hadrian  visited  this  island,  in  pui-su- 
ance  of  his  plan  to  inspect  in  person  every  part  of  his  do- 
minions.    During  his  stay,  that  prince  caused  a  rampart  of 
earth  to  be  raised  across  the  island  from  the  Tyne  to  the 
Solway,  which  became  known  in  aftertimes  as  the  wall  of 
Hadrian.f     But  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius  it  was 
deemed  prudent  to  restore  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
province  to  its  ancient  limits  as  fixed  by  Agricola,  and  the 
works  which  that  general  had  constructed  across  from  the 
Clyde  to  the  Forth  were  strengthened  by  a  line  of  defence 
similar  to  that  which  Hadrian  had  raised  more  southward. 
The  Caledonians  had  given  frequent  signs  of  disquietude, 
and  the  intention  of  this  proceeding  was  to  keep  them  more 
efiiectually  in  check.:]: 
Accession  of        Qu  the  acccssiou  of  the  Emperor  Commodus  in  a.  d.  180, 

Commodus  ^  ^  ^  ' 

-disorder,  this  long  interval  of  tranquillity  came  to  an  end.  The  con- 
duct of  the  man  in  possession  of  the  throne  was  such  as  to 
ensure  disorder  elsewhere.  The  Caledonians  made  their 
way  to  the  southward  of  the  wall  of  Antoninus,  and  were 
joined  by  many  of  the  Britons  in  the  northern  district  of 
the  province.  Ulpius  Marcellus,  the  Roman  general,  a  man 
of  worth  and  capacity,  succeeded,  after  several  engagements, 
in  checking  the  revolt,  and  in  obliging  the  Caledonians  to 
retire  within  their  own  borders.  But  in  this  instance  also, 
the  successes  of  the  general  made  him  an  object  of  jealousy 
to  his  master  ;  and  concerning  military  proceedings  in  Brit- 
ain after  the  dismissal  of  Marcellus,  we  know  nothing  for 
some  years,  except  that  the  discords  among  the  legionaries 
in  these  parts  seemed  to  keep  place  with  the  rapacity  and 
corruption  of  the  praetorians  in  Bome.§ 

*  Tacitus,  Vita  Agric.  xviii.-xl. 

f  Script.  Hist.  August.  Vita  Hadrian.  51-5*7.      Xiphil.  1.  792.      Eutrop. 
viii.  7. 

X  Script.  Hist.  August.  Vita  Ant.  Pii,  132;  Eutrop.  viii.  8. 

§  Script.  Hist.  Aug.  Vita  Commod.  2*75  et  seq. ;  Xiphil.  lib.  Ixxii.  §  8. 


REVOLUTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  45 

In  A.  D.  192  we  find  Clodius  Albinus  at  the  liead  of  the  book  l 
army  in  Britain  ;  and  "B-ve  years  later,  this  general  puts  forth  — '— 
his  claim  to  the  purple  in  opposition  to  Septimius  Severus. 
The  two  competitors  met  in  that  year  near  Lyons,  where 
the  defeat  of  Albinus  was  decisive.  To  prosecute  this 
scheme  Albinus  had  withdrawn  the  largest  possible  force 
from  Britain.  The  Caledonians  and  northern  tribes  had 
seized  on  the  occasion  to  assert  their  independence,  and  to 
make  incursions  southward. 

So  serious  had  the  aspect  of  affairs  become,  that  Severus  campaign 
himself,  though  advanced  in  age,  and  a  great  sufferer  from  Severus. 
gout,  resolved  to  assume  the  command  of  the  aiTny  in  this 
distant  region.  The  emperor  was  borne  from  place  to  place 
on  a  litter,  but  prosecuted  the  war  with  extraordinary  ar- 
dour. The  campaign,  from  its  being  chiefly  through  woods 
and  marshes,  proved  to  be,  not  only  laborious  and  protracted, 
but  most  costly  of  human  life.  Xiphiline  makes  the  loss  of 
the  Romans  to  have  been  fifty  thousand.  Ultimately  the 
Caledonians  were  made  to  sue  for  peace,  and  peace  was 
granted  them.* 

The  memorable  event  in  connexion  with  this  enterprise 
was  the  erection  of  the  famous  wall  of  Severus.  Tliis  wall 
was  raised  nearly  on  a  line  with  that  of  Hadrian,  but  it  did 
not  consist,  as  in  the  former  case,  of  a  mere  embankment  of 
earth.  It  was  constructed  of  stone,  twelve  feet  in  height, 
and  eight  feet  in  thickness,  with  towers  and  stations  at  given 
spaces  along  the  whole  distance.  Parallel  with  the  wall 
was  a  military  way  and  a  dyke — and  all  these  works  were 
extended  from  Tynemouth  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  isl- 
and, to  Bowness  on  the  western.  During  two  years  the  em- 
peror employed  his  legions  on  this  stupendous  undertaking. 
The  result  was  such  as  to  justify  even  that  amount  of 
labour.  Tlirough  a  century  and  a  half  from  this  time  the 
Caledonians  rarely  attempted  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
country  thus  protected.  This  wall  was  of  course  perpetually 
garrisoned  and  guarded.f 

*  Aurel.  Victor,  in  septhn.  Jlerodian,  iii.  20-22,  46  ;  Xiphil.  ex  Dione,  in 
Sev. 

f  Xiphil.  ex  Dione,  Sever.  Orosius,  vii.  11.  Spartian.  Vita  Sev.  Eutrop. 
Horsley,  Brit.  Horn.  61,  62,  116-158. 


46 


CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 


BOOK  T. 
Chap.  2. 


Another 
interval  of 
tranquil- 
lity. 


Division  of 
the  empire 
— Carau- 
sius. 


But  domestic  anxiety,  in  addition  to  age  and  impaired 
health,  weighed  heavily  on  Severus.  His  sons,  Caracalla 
and  Geta,  were  two  of  the  most  unprincipled  and  profligate 
men  of  the  age — ready  to  purchase  the  gratification  of  their 
passions  by  any  amount  of  crime.  In  the  city  of  York,  two 
years  after  the  conclusion  of  his  campaign  against  the  Cale- 
donians, the  emperor  died — more,  w^e  have  reason  to  believe, 
from  grief  than  from  disease.  His  two  sons  were  left  joint 
heirs  to  his  authority.  The  young  men  were  at  enmity  with 
each  other,  but  both  hastened  to  leave  Britain  that  they 
might  seize  on  the  honours  awaiting  them  in  Rome,  and 
surrender  themselves  to  the  pleasures  that  w^ould  be  there 
at  their  command. 

At  this  point  another  long  interval  occurs  through  which 
we  find  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  in  Eoman  authors  con- 
cerning Britain.  It  is  probable  that  the  seventy  years  which 
followed  from  a.  d.  211  to  a.  d.  284  were  years  of  peace. 
The  wall  of  Severus  fenced  off  inquietude  from  the  north. 
Submission  had  become  general  and  settled  in  the  south. 
Had  there  been  commotion  and  bloodshed,  history,  which 
is  so  much  occupied  in  recording  such  events,  would  not 
have  been  silent.  The  progress  of  order  and  industry  is 
noiseless  and  imperceptible,  and  estimated  truly  only  by  the 
wise. 

In  A.  D.  284  Diocletian  became  emperor.  In  his  time 
the  empire  was  parcelled  out  between  four  princes — be- 
tween himself  and  Maximian  as  emperors,  and  Galerius  and 
Constantius  as  Csesars.  In  the  division  of  territory  between 
these  princes,  Gaul  and  Britain  fell  to  the  lot  of  Constan- 
tius. But  before  this  division  had  taken  place,  a  fifth  com- 
petitor had  made  his  appearance.  Carausius,  an  ofiicer  of 
distinction,  had  been  sent  by  Diocletian  to  suppress  the  pi- 
racies of  the  Franks  and  Saxons,  who  began  about  this  time 
to  infest  the  narrow  seas,  and  the  coasts  of  Gaul  and  Brit- 
ain, as  freebooters.  Carausius,  however,  was  more  intent 
upon  enriching  himself  than  upon  executing  the  commands 
of  the  emperor.  To  escape  the  punishment  with  which  he 
was  menaced,  he  seduced  the  fleet  committed  to  his  charge 
from  their  allegiance,  entered  into   an  alliance  with  the 


REVOLrTION   BY   THE    SWORD.  47 

pirates,  and  at  last  prevailed  on  tlie  military  in  Britain  to  book  l 
accept  liim  as  their  chief.  Maximian  had  deemed  it  prudent  f^Ii?' 
to  sanction  this  usurpation.  In  a.d.  292  Constantius  deter- 
mined that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  bring  it  to  an  end. 
But  before  the  war  had  extended  from  Gaul  to  Britain, 
Carausius  was  assassinated  by  Alectus,  one  of  his  officers, 
who  assumed  the  purple  in  his  stead.  Alectus  had  been  in 
possession  of  his  ill-acquired  power  about  three  years,  when 
he  was  defeated  and  slain  ;  and  the  accession  of  Constantius 
to  supreme  authority  in  Britain,  was  hailed  by  all  but  the 
lawless  as  the  advent  of  a  deliverer.* 

These  events  belong  to  the  year  a.d.  296.  l^ine  years 
later,  Diocletian  and  Maximian  resigned  the  purple ;  and 
Constantius  became  emperor.  But  his  imperial  honours 
were  of  short  duration.  In  the  following  year  he  died  of 
sickness  in  the  city  of  York.  His  son  Constantine,  after- 
wards Constantine  the  Great,  then  in  Britain,  became  his 
successor.  The  reign  of  Constantine  extended  to  something 
more  than  thirty  years,  and  that  interval  was  to  Britain  an 
interval  of  order  and  j)rosj)erity.f 

But  by  this  time  the  marauding  tribes  in  the  northern  The  picts 
part  of  the  island  had  come  to  be  laiown  by  the  names  of  '^°'^^^<**^ 
Ficts  and  Scots,  and  their  incursions  southward  had  grown 
to  be  more  bold  and  frequent.  The  Emperor  Constans,  the 
second  son  of  Constantine,  engaged  in  a  formidable  expedition 
to  chastise  these  intruders,  but  history  reports  little  concern- 
ing the  result  In  the  struggle  between  the  usurper  Mag- 
nentius  and  Constantius,  the  third  son  of  Constantine,  Brit- 
ain shared,  in  common  with  the  other  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire, in  the  miseries  entailed  by  the  rage  of  faction  and  of 
civil  war.:}: 

But,  from  this  time  onward,  the  great  trouble  in  this  isl- 
and arises  from  rude  hordes  of  Caledonians  on  the  land,  and 
from  the  piratical  attacks  of  the  Franks  and  Saxons  by  sea. 
The  inroads  of  the  Ficts  and  Scots  had  never  been  so  suc- 

*  Eutrop.  ix.  659.     Aurelius  Victor,  in  Constant.  Mimen.  Panegyr.  8. 
\  Aurelius  Vic.  in  Vita  Constantin.  Eumen.  Panegyr.  9.     Eutrop.  x.  1,  11. 
X  Ammian.  Marcelli.  xx.  c.  1 ;  xiv.  c.  5 ;  xv.  o,  5  ;  xxii.  c.  3.     Eutrop.  x.  6. 
Zosimus,  ii. 


48  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.   cessful  and  destructive  as  in  the  space  from  a.d.  364  to  a.d. 
'^-   367* 
Adminis-  In  the  year  last  mentioned,  Tlieodosins,  one  of  the  ablest 

tration  of  •^  '  ' 

Theodosius.  and  wiscst  gcncrals  of  the  age,  came  to  Britain  to  punish 
these  marauders.  He  found  that  they  had  penetrated  to 
the  heart  of  the  country,  from  the  Tyne  to  the  Thames. 
The  new  general  came  upon  them  near  London,  laden  with 
booty,  and  bearing  away  men,  women,  and  children  as  cap- 
tives. In  a  short  time  he  forced  the  depredators,  not  only 
beyond  the  wall  of  Severus,  but  from  the  north  of  the  Tyne 
to  the  north  of  the  Clyde  and  Forth,  and  once  more  made 
the  wall  of  Antoninus  the  boundary  of  the  province,  repair- 
ing its  injuries,  and  adding  to  its  places  of  strength.  Cabals 
and  treachery  had  weakened  the  Boman  army  ;  corruption 
had  taken  root  in  the  civil  service ;  but  in  Theodosius  the 
province  found  the  wise  ruler  and  the  able  general.  Both 
in  the  civil  and  military  departments  such  improvements 
were  realized,  that  the  whole  country  seemed  another  home 
to  those  who  dwelt  in  it.  The  new  governor  was  soon  re- 
called ;  but  the  effects  of  his  administration  remained,  and 
a  grateful  people  flocked  in  multitudes  towards  the  point 
of  his  embarkation,  and  lamented  his  departure  as  that  of  a 
father.  It  was  the  son  of  this  Tlieodosius  who  became  em- 
peror under  that  name.f 

« '^^B^t^'  ^^^^  interruption  to  the  years  of  prosperity  which  follow- 

and  Brit-  '  ed  Came  from  the  ambition  of  Maximus,  an  officer  in  the 
^^y-  ... 

Roman  army  in  Britain  who  aspired  to  the  purple,  and  who 

induced  the  army  and  people  of  Britain  to  support  his  pre- 
tensions. Maximus  had  married  the  daughter  of  a  British 
prince,  had  served  under  Theodosius  the  elder,  and  had  done 
much  to  impart  security  and  prosperity  to  the  province. 
He  British  youth  whom  he  had  trained  to  arms,  followed 
his  fortunes  on  the  Continent.  They  contributed  to  his 
early  successes,  and  most  of  them  survived  his  fate,  but  they 
never  returned.  Tliey  found  their  future  home  in  the  terri- 
tory known  as  Armorica,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Brittany.     Some  years  later  they  were  joined  by  a  large 

*  Ammian.  Marcel,  xx.  c.  1 ;  xxvii.  c.  9. 

f  Ammian.  Marcel,  xxvii.  e.  7 ;  xxviii.  3,  7.     Claudian.  -Panegyr.  Tlieod. 


EEVOLrTION   BY   THE    SWQED.      '  49 

body  of  tlieir  countrymen,  who  had  been  led  into  Gaul  under   book  l 
similar  circumstances.*  jiap^. 

Through  the  twenty  years  subsequent  to  the  fall  of  Max-  withdraw- 
imus,  the  distractions  and  weakness  of  the  empire  led  to  a  SaSs. 
gradual  reduction  of  the  army  in  Britain,  until  in  a.d.  412, 
the  last  remnant  was  withdrawn.  The  story  which  remains 
is  the  melancholy  one  of  which  we  shall  have  to  speak  else- 
where— the  inroads  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  the  alleged 
pusillanimity  of  the  Britons,  and  the  invitation  to  the 
Saxons. 

Such  as  we  have  described  was  the  revolution  brought  The  work  of 
about  by  the  sword  in  Boman  Britain.  The  island,  from  sword  in 
Cornwall  to  the  Grampians,  passes  into  new  hands.  But 
this  change  is  not  the  work  of  a  day,  or  of  a  generation.  It 
is  achieved  at  great  cost,  and  it  is  sustained  at  great  cost. 
The  Britons  disputed  every  inch  of  ground  once  and  again 
before  surrendering  it.  The  courage,  the  skill,  and  the  spirit 
of  endurance  with  which  they  defended  their  rude  home  and 
independence  entitle  them  to  our  admiration.  In  such 
chiefs  as  Cassivelaunus  and  Caractacus  we  see  what  some 
of  the  greatest  men  in  our  later  history  would  have  been  in 
the  same  circumstances.  But  after  a  while  leaders  of  that 
order  cease  to  appear.  The  warlike  passions  of  the  people 
cease  to  be  what  they  had  been.  They  dwell  on  the  soil 
on  which  their  fathers  dwelt,  but  they  have  become  men 
without  a  country.  British  authority,  from  being  every- 
where, ceases  to  be  anywhere.  The  race  which  was  once 
the  sole  possessor  of  the  soil,  retains  its  humblest  homestead 
only  upon  sufferance.  Ingenuity  and  industry  are  encour- 
aged, but  it  is  that  they  may  be  taxed.  The  able-bodied 
may  become  soldiers,  but  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  that  they 
may  be  expatriated  and,  add  to  the  strength  of  the  power  by 
which  they  have  been  themselves  vanquished. 

This,  however,  is  no  uncommon  course  of  events  in  the 
history  of  nations.  It  is  generally  the  precursor  of  some- 
thing better,  and,  from  the  first,  brings  its  good  along  with 
its  evil.     In  this  instance,  an  island  which  before  the  age 

*  Sozomen.  Hist.  vii.  721.      Prosper  in  Chron.  An.  ?87.      Gildas,  c.   11; 
Nennius,  xxiii.     Rowland's  3Iona,  166,  16Y. 
Vol.  I— .4 


50  *  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

cha?  2*    ^^  Csesar  had  been  a  comparatively  unknown  land — an  ob- 

ject  ratlier  of  imagination  than  knowledge  to  civilized  men 

— comes  to  be  an  opulent  province  in  the  most  powerful 
empire  the  world  had  ever  seen  ;  and,  through  several  cen- 
turies, a  field  for  the  display  of  the  highest  virtues  and 
talents  which  that  empire  could  furnish.  Tlie  distance  be- 
tween the  barbarous  and  the  civilized  can  only  be  narrowed 
by  degrees.  The  evil  is,  that  civilized  man  is  often  more 
disposed  to  icse  than  to  elevate  those  who  are  beneath  him. 


CHAPTER   III. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  ASCENDENCY  OF  THE  EOMANS  IN  BEITAIN 
ON   GOVERNMENT. 

rPHE  usages   which  served  the  purpose   of  law   among   eook  i. 
-■-   the  Britons  are  but  imperfectly  known  to  us.     It  is  cer-      "'^^'  ' 
tain  that  the  government  of  the  different  nations  w^as  mo-  assemwies 
narchical,  or  by  chieftainship.     Of  course  the  chief,  as  in  all  cTitsf 
such  communities,  was  much  influenced  by  the  feeling  of 
his  tribe  or  nation.     Strabo  describes  the  Belgse,  and  the 
Gauls  generally,  as  easily  brought  together  in  great  numbers 
on  public  matters.     On  such  occasions  every  man  was  for- 
ward to  express  his  indignation  against  any  kind  of  wrong 
inflicted  on  himself  or  his  neighbour.     One  person  was  in- 
vested with   authority  to  secure  order.     If  any  man   at- 
tempted to  interrupt  a  speaker  he  was  admonished  by  this 
functionary  to  be  silent ;  and  should  he  disregard  a  third 
admonition,  the  sword  of  the  officer  was  used  to  disgrace 
the  offender,  by  depriving  him  of  so  much  of  his  mantle  as 
made  the  remainder  useless.*     Such  conferences,  no  doubt, 
took  place  among  the  Britons. 

But  the  order  of  succession  to  the  supreme  authority  ap-  British 
pears  to  have  been  more  fixed  and  hereditary  among  the  ^^°^^' 
Britons  than  among  the  Gauls.  Exceptions  to  this  rule  did, 
no  doubt,  arise,  but  the  rule  remained.  Thus  the  Trinoban- 
tes  besought  Caesar  that  Mandubratius,  the  son  of  their  late 
chief,  might  be  invested  with  the  authority  of  his  father, 
and  be  protected  in  the  same  against  the  ambition  of  Cas- 
sivelaunus.f     In  later  times,  more  than  one  British  prince 

*  Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  4,  §  2.     Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  iv.  v.     Tacit.  Vita  Agric. 
f  Caesar,  iii.  1. 


52  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

BOOK  I.  souglit  the  intervention  of  the  authority  of  Eome  on  this 
— '-'  plea.*  It  is  clear,  also,  that  the  law  of  succession  was  re- 
spected even  when  a  woman  happened  to  be  the  next  by 
birth.  Thus  Cartismandua  was  the  reigning  queen  of  the 
Brigantes,  Boadicea  of  the  Iceni. 

Revenae.  The  revcnue  of  the  British  kings  must  have  been  raised 

by  rude  and  irregular  means.  It  came  from  three  sources 
— from  their  own  lands  and  possessions  ;  from  contributions 
made  by  their  people  ;  and  from  their  allotted  share  in  all 
booty,  whether  taken  from  an  enemy,  or,  after  the  black- 
mail process,  from  neighbouring  tribes. 

Civil  autho-        Tlic  authority  of  these  chiefs  was  restricted  almost  exclu- 

rity  of  tho        .       -,  .  ^  t  ,  .         , 

Druids.  sivcly  to  qucstious  01  peace  and  war ;  and  even  m  these 
cases,  it  was  at  their  peril  to  slight  th-e  auguries  of  the 
Druids. f  What  the  notions  of  right  were  which  determined 
the  conduct  of  one  community  towards  another,  or  of  one 
man  towards  another,  we  can  only  conjecture,  as  it  was  a 
part  of  tli^  policy  of  the  Druids  that  law  should  never 
be  committed  to  writing.  Csesar,  who  mentions  this  fact, 
informs  us  that  the  Druids  made  use  of  writing  on  other 
occasions.  What  was  known  among  the  Britons  under  the 
name  of  law,  had  been  thrown  into  verse,  and  passed  from 
the  memory  of  one  generation  of  priests  to  another.  Many 
years  were  occupied  in  the  effort  to  acquire  the  knowledge 
so  conveyed.  Nor  was  this  all — the  Druids  were  not  only 
the  depositaries  of  law,  they  were  its  administrators.  Every- 
thing legislative  and  judicial  came  thus  under  a  priestly 
influence,  and  took  a  theocratic  shape — -after  the  manner  of 
those  eastern  countries  from  which  the  Celtic  tribes  had 
migrated.  Tlie  people  were  to  believe,  accordingly,  that 
the  voice  of  their  laws  was  the  voice  of  their  gods.  Fines, 
torture,  and  death  were  the  punishments  of  crime,  whether 
against  person  or  property,  varying  according  to  the  magni- 
tude of  the  offence.  Tlie  rule  by  terror  was  rigorously 
adjusted,  as  in  the  case  of  all  such  communities.  Evidence 
was  admitted  on  oath,  and  might  bo  obtained  by  torture ; 
and  acquittal  might  follow  by  compurgators  or  by  ordeal. 

*  Suetonius  in  Calig.  44. 

f  Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  i.  50.     Diod.  Sic.  v.  354.     Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  4. 


EEVOLUTION   IN   GOVEENMENTS.  53 

Such  is  the  sum  of  our  knowledge,  resting  on  evidence  book  l 
more  or  less  satisfactory,  in  regard  to  government  among  the  ^^^' 
Britons.* 

The  change  from  a  government  by  unvsrritten  laws,  to  a  Romaa 
government  by  means  of  laws  committed  to  writing,  and  ment. 
reduced  to  a  scientific  system,  is  great.     Such  was  one  fea- 
ture of  the  change  in  relation  to  government  in  Britain  intro- 
duced by  the  Romans.     But  this  change  was  not  accom- 
plished at  once. 

It  was  the  wise  policy  of  the  Romans  to  regulate  the 
exercises  of  their  power  according  to  circumstances.  Where 
nothing  beyond  an  annual  tribute  could  be  safely  demanded, 
they  were  wont  to  profess  themselves  content  with  that  con- 
cession, leaving  the  state  in  other  respects  in  its  original 
independence.  This  was  all  that  Caesar  presumed  to  exact 
from  the  Britons  as  the  fruit  of  his  two  costly  invasions. 
As  the  sum  in  this  instance  is  not  mentioned,  it  is  probable 
that  the  amount  promised  was  not  large.  We  know  that  it 
was  a  comparatively  small  number  of  the  Britons  only  w^ho 
were  parties  to  that  transaction,  and  that  the  payment, 
whatever  it  may  have  been,  soon  ceased  to  be  made.  In 
the  language  of  Tacitus  the  effect  of  the  invasion  by  Csesar 
was  to  '  show'  the  island  to  the  Roman  legions,  not  to  give 
them  possession  of  it.f 

But  where  conquest  and  colonization  were  practicable,  ?»?»?. co- 

-•-  ^  -1  ■'  Ionization. 

and  could  be  made  to  yield  honour  and  advantage,  the  aim 
of  the  Romans  was  to  conquer  and  to  colonize.  Before  the 
close  of  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  it  was  mani- 
fest that  such  objects  might  be  realized  in  Britain,  and  we 
have  seen  the  heavy  price  which  Rome  was  prejDared  to  pay 
that  Britain  might  be  thus  allied  to  it.  The  veterans  in  the 
Roman  army  were  allowed  to  be  gainers  by  any  successful 
experiment  of  this  nature,  considera^ble  portions  of  the  con- 
quered lands  being  always  assigned  to  them.  People  not 
connected  with  the  army  or  with  the  Government,  from 
Rome  or  other  places  were  encouraged  to  seek  a  home  for 

*  Diod.  Sicul.  V.  354.  Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  4,  5.  Csesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  vi. 
12-16. 

f  Vita  Agric.  xiii. 


54  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

BOOK  I.  industrial  purposes  in  the  settlements  so  formed,  and  miglit 
— '-'  be  vested  with  the  privileges  of  Roman  citizens.  Hence 
the  population  in  such  places  often  grew  with  amazing 
rapidity.  In  regions  which  had  been  comparatively  desert 
and  barbarous,  populous  and  opulent  cities  made  their 
appearance  in  which  the  arts  and  refinements  of  Rome  itself 
became  suddenly  naturalized.  Such  in  this  country  was 
the  early  history  of  Caerleon  and  Lincoln,  of  Chester  and 
York.-^ 

In  the  progress  of  things  towards  this  issue,  it  sometimes 
happened  that  the  Romans  allowed  the  princes  whom  they 
had  vanquished  to  retain  the  appearance  of  ruling  as  in 
time  past.  But  this  was  only  that  both  princes  and  people 
might  be  subdued  more  eifectually  by  degrees.  It  was  easy 
to  reign  through  a  former  king' by  using  him  merely  as 
a  tax-gatherer.  Used  as  a  tool  for  such  a  purpose,  the  func- 
tionary soon  became  unpopular,  and  the  people  were  not 
long  unwilling  to  dispense  with  his  presence  altogether. 
Cogidumnus  was  a  British  prince  who  became  a  victim  of 
this  policy.f 
o/iiJman  Wlicu,  by  mcaus  of  this  nature,  as  well  as  by  the  sword, 

Britain.  ^j^^  Romaus  had  become  sole  masters  of  Britain,  they  di- 
vided its  territory  into  six  departments.  But  the  sixth  of 
these  provinces,  lying  to  the  north  of  the  friths  of  the  Clyde 
and  the  Forth,  was  a  province  in  name  more  than  reality. 
The  Romans  never  obtained  any  permanent  footing  in  those 
parts.  ]!Tearly  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  fifth  province, 
lying  between  the  walls  of  Antoninus  and  Severus.  That 
territory  was  subdued  more  than  once,  and  more  than  once 
relinquished.  But  in  the  four  remaining  provinces  the 
authority  of  Rome  was  ascendant  and  settled  through  more 
than  three  centuries.  The  first  of  these  23rovinces,  under 
the  name  of  Britannia  Prima,  embraced  the  whole  of  that 
part  of  England  which  measured  the  distance  from  the  Kent 
shore  of  the  Thames  to  the  Gloucestershire  side  of  the 
Severn,  and  reached  southward  to  the  Land's  End.    The 

*  Tacitus,  Affric.  c.  15,  16.      Ann.  lib.  xiv.  c.  81.      Palgrave's  Common- 
wealth,  X.  350-358. 

\  Tacit.  Vita  Agric.  xiii.     Hors.  Brit.  Rom.  No.  76,  pp.  192,  332. 


EEVOLUTION   IN   GOYEKNMENT.  55 

second  division  embraced  the  whole  of  Wales,  with  some  book  i. 
strijjs  of  country  which  have  since  formed  border  lands  to  — - 
England.  The  great  centre  territory  of  England,  bounded 
by  the  German  Ocean  on  the  east,  and  by  the  lands  of  AVor- 
cestershire,  Shropshire,  and  Cheshire  on  the  west,  and  ex- 
tending northward  from  the  Thames  to  the  Humber,  was 
the  third  province,  and  bore  the  name  of  Flavia  Csesariensis. 
Maxima  Caesariensis,  the  fourth  province,  was  limited  on 
the  east  and  west  by  the  two  seas ;  and,  measured  north- 
ward, included  the  whole  distance  from  the  Humber  to  the 
Tyne.^ 

The  settlements  within  these  provinces  were  various,  in  MunuJip^r 
accordance  with  the  general  law  of  the  empire.  Tlie  first  To^ij^" 
in  rank  were  the  colonies.  In  these,  which  were  only  nine 
in  number,  the  law  and  usage  which  obtained  were,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  identical  with  those  of  Rome.  Seven 
of  these  settlements  are  described  as  military  colonies,  two 
as  civil.  In  the  military  colonies,  the  sons  of  soldiery,  to 
whom  shares  in  the  neighbouring  lands  had  been  allot- 
ted, held  them  by  a  stern  military  tenure.  'Next  in  impor- 
tance to  the  colonies  came  the  municipal  cities.  The  in- 
habitants of  these  places  were  to  a  large  extent  Roman 
citizens,  possessed  their  own  magistrates,  and  within  cer- 
tain limits  enacted  their  own  laws.  But  York  and  Yerulam 
were  the  only  municipia  in  Britain.  There  were  ten  places 
which  bore  the  name  of  Latian  towns,  where  the  imperial 
laws  were  administered,  but  in  which  the  people  were 
governed  by  their  own  magistrates,  and  every  new  magis- 
trate, after  his  year  of  service,  became  a  Roman  citizen. 
Magistracy  in  all  these  cities  was  hereditary  in  leading 
families,  and  vacancies  were  filled  up  on  a  principle  of  self- 
election,  or  by  nomination.  As  corporations,  they  very 
much  resembled  the  close  corporations  of  this  country  which 
were  swept  away  by  the  late  Municipal  Reform  Act.  In 
corrupt  times,  these  offices,  as  they  imposed  the  duty  of 
levying  taxes,  proved  anything  but  desirable.  Yery  severe 
penalties,  accordingly,  were  provided   against   such  as  re- 

*  Notitia  Imperii,  49.     Hors.  Brit.  Rom.  356  et  seq.     Henry's  Hist.  ii.  app. 


56  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

Chads'   ^^^^^  ^^  ^ct  when  called  upon  to  do  so.     After  the  fourth 

century,  and  as   a  protection  against   abuses,  the  citizens 

were  empowered  to  choose  a  Defensor,  who  acted  as  a 
popular  representative  in  relation  to  the  aristocratic  body 
of  magistrates.  In  the  cities  of  Gaul  the  bishops  generally 
filled  this  ofiice.  In  cities  not  of  the  privileged  class  above 
named,  the  natives,  and  the  residents  generally,  were  not 
only  subject  to  imperial  laws,  but  were  precluded  from  all 
share  in  the  administration  of  them.  In  course  of  time 
these  restrictions  were  in  some  degree  infringed,  but  to  this 
effect  was  the  polity  set  up  by  the  Eomans  in  Britain.  To 
the  last  a  strong  line  of  demarcation  was  preserved  between 
the  conquerors  and  the  conquered.^' 

The  prefect.  The  authority  to  which  all  things  within  these  settle- 
ments, and  through  the  four  provinces,  were  subject,  was 
that  of  the  prsetor  or  prefect.  Both  the  civil  and  the  mili- 
tary power  was  vested  in  this  officer.  He  commanded  the 
army,  appointed  magistrates,  and  regulated  every  part  of 
the  administration.  He  was  invested  with  these  powers  by 
the  emperor,  and  to  him  he  was  responsible ;  but  in  all 
other  relations  his  authority  was  supreme.  During  a  long 
interval,  large  discretionary  power  was  entrusted  to  the 
prefect,  that  he  might  be  perpared  to  meet  emergencies  in 
distant  provinces  by  more  summary  methods  than  the  law 
could  provide.  This  liberty,  as  will  be  supposed,  was  often 
grossly  abused.  In  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian  it 
came  to  an  end.  The  '  perpetual  edict '  issued  by  that 
prince  made  the  laws  which  were  imperative  in  Rome  to  be 
imperative  in  the  provinces.f 

Procurator.  The  Only  officer  in  the  province  who  did  not  hold  his 
appointment  at  the  pleasure  of  the  prefect  was  the  procura- 
tor or  qusestor.  It  belonged  to  this  functionary,  with  his 
complement  of  officials,  to  collect  the  taxes,  and  to  superintend 
everything  relating  to  revenue.     It  often  happened  that  the 

*  Lipsius,  de  Magn.  Rom.  i.  6.  The  following  are  the  names  of  the  nine 
colonies:  Kichborough,  London,  Colchester,  Bath,  Caerleon,  Gloucester,  Lin- 
coln, Chester.  •  In  the  age  of  the  Antonines  the  distinction  between  the  colo- 
nies, the  municipia,  and  the  Latian  cities  was  much  effaced,  and  as  the  empire 
further  declined  they  may  be  said  to  have  disappeared. — Palgrave's  Common- 
wealthy  c.  X. 

f  Tillemout,  Histoire  des  Empereurs^  ii.  264. 


EEVOLUTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  57 

procurator  acted,  and  was  expected  to  act,  as  a  spy  on  the  BpOK  i. 
proceedings  of  tlie  prefect,  making  his  report  to  the  emperor  — - 
concerning  any  excesses,  or  any  suspicious  proceedings  in 
that  quarter.  In  other  instances  the  two  officials  were 
manifestly  on  terms  understood  between  them,  each  leaving 
the  other  to  make  the  best  for  himself  of  his  position.  But 
it  was  supposed  that  the  imperial  interests  would  be  more 
secure  by  being  placed  thus  in  two  hands,  than  by  being 
left  altogether  in  one.  From  experience,  the  tendency  was 
to  widen  the  distinction  between  these  two  authorities, 
rather  than  to  diminish  it. 

Thus  in  Roman  Britain  the  powers  of  government  passed  J^«  ^^1^^^' 
wholly  out  of  the  hands  of  the  natives,  and  remained  to  the  ^^^l^' 
end  in  the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  The  British  princes 
gradually  sunk  into  obscurity,  and  bowed  at  length,  in 
common  with  their  subjects,  to  the  power  which  it  had 
been  found  vain  to  resist.  The  two  elements — the  con- 
querors and  the  conquered — never  blended.  British  youths 
were  trained  to  arms,  but  it  was,  for  the  most  part,  that 
they  might  be  drafted  off  to  foreign  service.  Others  were 
trained  to  arts,  but  it  was  that  they  might  be  tamed  by 
such  pursuits,  and  made  passive,  not  that  they  might  be- 
come qualified  for  public  life,  or  rise  to  any  political  in- 
fluence. The  resistance  of  the  natives  had  been  so  pro- 
longed and  determined,  that  the  hope  of  any  healthy 
amalgamation  between  them  and  the  invaders  was  not  en- 
tertained until  the  season  for  acting  upon  it  with  effect  had 
passed. 

Supposing  the  imperial  laws  to  have  been  purely  ad- 
ministered, the  change  introduced  must  have  secured  to  the 
Britons  great  advantage  in  all  suits  between  subject  and 
subject.  Their  old  Druid  usages  could  hardly  have  given 
them  the  same  degree  of  protection  in  such  cases.  And 
beyond  a  doubt  the  protection  of  property,  and  the  en- 
couragement of  industry,  conferred  by  the  Romans,  was 
an  immense  advance  on  anything  of  that  nature  which  had 
existed  previously,  or  could  have  existed  under  any  other 
influence.  But  the  laws  in  relation  even  to  such  matters 
were  not  always  purely  administered.     Before  the  time  of 


58  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

ch??8'   H^^^^^i^ii)  their  authority  seemed  everywhere  to  diminish 

with  the  distance  of  the  province  to  which  they  were  to  be 

applied ;  and  after  that  time,  the  Britons  had  often  too 
mnch  reason  to  complain  of  the  arbitrary  and  corrupt  pro- 
ceedings of  their  superiors.  Tlie  account  given  by  Tacitus 
of  the  reforms  introduced  by  Agricola,  shows  pretty  clearly 
what  the  ordinary  state  of  things  had  been.  He  began 
with  the  reform  of  his  own  household,  removing  all  slaves 
and  freedmen  from  public  offices.  In  regard  to  taxation, 
he  took  care,  it  is  said,  that  the  assessments  should  be  just 
and  equal.  He  put  a  check  also  on  the  tax-gatherer,  whose 
extortions,  real  or  suspected,  were  often  more  the  ground 
of  disaffection  than  the  tax  itself.  Collectors,  it  seems, 
had  been  used  to  require  that  all  the  produce  of  a  district 
should  be  brought  to  some  fixed  place,  where  the  producer 
should  appear,  and  have  the  privilege  of  purchasing  his 
own  property  at  the  reduced  value  fixed  upon  it  by  the 
government.  By  this  custom,  the  expenses  of  carriage  were 
added  to  the  tax,  and  the  feeling  of  dependence  was  wan- 
tonly embittered.  Functionaries  who  could  deem  them- 
selves at  liberty  to  pursue  such  a  course  must  have  been 
an  evil  race  to  live  under.  In  case  of  hardship  in  this  form, 
or  in  any  other,  the  Briton  might  appeal  to  the  prefect ; 
and  if  justice  did  not.  come  from  that  source,  the  next  appeal 
lay  to  the  emperor.  But  it  is  obvious  that  only  the  wealthy 
could  carry  their  suit  to  that  ultimate  tribunal,  and  the 
wealthy  among  the  Britons  were  few. 

Had  it  been  possible  to  guard  against  such  abuses, 
even  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  just  laws  justly  ad- 
ministered may  be  too  dearly  purchased.  In  Britain,  that 
political  education  of  the  people  which  comes  naturally 
from  the  usages  of  self-government,  was  wholly  wanthig. 
The  Britons  were  viewed  too  much  as  mere  material  to  be 
used  up  in  armies,  or  to  be  made  as  productive  as  possible 
in  the  hands  of  a  revenue  collector.  But  ruin  is  the  natural 
issue  of  all  governments  based  on  such  maxims.  In  general, 
if  the  governed  are  not  found  to  possess  sufficient  energy 
to  cast  off  the  yoke,  they  perish  from .  exhaustion  —  the 
governed  in  the  meanwhile  being  destroyed  by  their  vices. 


EEVOLUTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  59 

Mucli  land  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  emperors  by  a   book  i 

succession  of  confiscations,  and  more  by  their  harsh  custom     

of  seizing  on  the  property  of  all  who  died  childless.  It  often 
happened  that  no  man  would  take  these  government  lands 
on  the  hard  terms  proposed,  and  in  that  case  the  little  cul- 
ture bestowed  on  them  was  by  forced,  tliat  is,  by  slave 
labour.  The  far  greater  part  of  the  land,  however,  remained 
in  the  hands  of  the  natives,  but  on  conditions  that  were  very 
onerous.  The  land-tax  alone  absorbed  one-third  of  the  net 
produce.  Other  taxes  were  levied  in  seaports,  in  all  places 
of  traffic,  and  in  every  man's  home.  For,  besides  the  great 
tax  on  land,  there  were  taxes  on  the  sale  of  merchandize 
and  of  slaves,  on  mines,  and  on  the  person  in  the  form  of  a 
poll-tax.  Payments  w^ere  also  made  to  the  government 
from  all  property  left  by  will,  and  from  all  funerals. 

Only  by  imposing  such  burdens  was  it  possible  to  sus-  Eoman 
tain  so  great  an  army  as  was  generally  stationed  in  this  Britain, 
island.  In  the  early  times  of  the  Homan  ascendency  in 
Britain,  the  army  of  occupation  consisted  of  four  legions, 
some  25,000  men,  which,  with  the  usual  complement  of 
auxiliaries,  must  have  raised  the  settled  force  of  the  country 
to  more  than  50,000.  The  army  in  the  field  on  some  occa- 
sions could  not  have  been  less  than  50,000,  irrespective 
of  the  numbers  distributed  in  the  various  stations.  From 
the  Notitia  Imperii^  the  official  record  of  the  functionaries 
and  forces  of  the  empire  about  the  close  of  the  fourth 
century,  we  learn  that  the  army  in  Britain  consisted  at  that 
time  of  two  legions  in  place  of  four,  but  the  total  force  then 
may  be  reckoned  as  32,700  foot,  and  4800  horse,  in  all 
37,500  men.*  The  revenue  adequate  to  sustain  such  a 
military  establishment,  and  a  civil  establishment  of  corre- 
sponding magnitude,  must  have  been  great — much  too  great 
to  have  been  furnished  by  the  Britons,  had  not  their  con- 
dition been  a  great  remove  from  barbarism. 

*  Horsley's  Britannia  Romana^  book  i.  chap.  vi. ;    book  ii.  chap,  i.,  where 
the  reader  may  find  ample  information  on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


REVOLUTION   Ilf   EELIGI01S-. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  4. 

Druidism — 
Britain  its 
clioson 
asylum. 


Its  theocra- 
tic theory. 


C^SAE,  describes  the  religion  of  Gaul  and  Britain  as  tlie 
same.  He  furtlier  relates  that  the  priests  of  Gaul  who 
were  desirous  of  becoming  profoundly  learned  in  the  Druid 
lore,  generally  passed  some  time  in  Britain  for  that  pur- 
pose.* The  religion  which  the  Celtic  tribes  brought  with 
them  from  the  East  did  not  seek  contact  with  other 
races,  and  coveted  secrecy  for  the  exercise  of  its  more  sacred 
rites.  As  this  command  of  seclusion  failed  them  in  Gaul, 
they  appear  to  have  sought  it  in  Britain  ;  and  even  here  to 
have  retreated  from  the  more  populous  and  exposed  regions 
on  its  southern  coast,  to  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  to 
some  of  its  remotest  solitudes,  as  in  the  island  of  Mona. 
But  where  there  is  secrecy  there  will  be  suspicion  ;  and  the 
imagination  of  the  classical  writers  has  not  failed  to  people 
the  forest  temj)les  of  the  Druids  with  such  forms  of  super- 
stition and  cruelty  as  were  supposed  to  be  natural  to  those 
who  covet  darkness  rather  than  light.  Enough  of  super- 
stition and  cruelty  there  was,  but  poetical  inventions  are  of 
value  only  as  poetry.f 

Tlie  name  Druid  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from 
the  oak,  which  was  an  object  of  special  veneration  with  the 
priests  of  Gaul  and  Britain. :(:  We  have  seen  that  the  laws 
of  the  Britons  were  deposited  in  the  mind  of  the  Druids, 
and  administered  by  them.  So  that  they  were  not  only 
priests,  but  in  effect  both  legislators  and  magistrates.  In 
this  fact  their  Oriental  origin  is  clearly  indicated.  Tliey 
were  the  ministers  of  a  theocracy.     So  much   were  they 

*  Bel.  Gal.  vi.  13.  f  Lucan.  Phars.  Hi.  897. 

X  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  xvi.  44 ;  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  v. 


EEVOLTJTION   IN   BELIGION.  61 

venerated,  that  even  peace  and  war,  which  seemed  to  be  book  l 
almost  the  only  questions  left  purely  to  the  authority  of  — '-' 
their  kings,  was  a  matter  virtually  under  their  control. 
The  intervention  of  a  Druid,  we  are  told,  was  enough  to 
stay  the  arm  of  combatants  even  when  their  rage  was  at 
the  highest."^  There  were  some  distinctions  of  rank  among 
them,  and  females  were  allowed  to  participate  in  the  honours 
of  the  office.  Besides  the  ordinary  Druids,  who  attended 
to  the  usual  priestly  services,  there  appears  to  have  been  a 
limited  class  who  were  accounted  the  inspired  persons — the 
minstrel  poets  and  prophets  of  their  order.  The  services 
of  the  Druids  as  priests  and  magistrates,  and  the  fact  that 
they  alone  possessed  any  knowledge  of  medicine,  or  of  use- 
ful science  generally,  gave  them  command  of  a  revenue 
which  must  have  beep  large  as  coming  from  such  a  people. 
Above  all,  the  spiritual  power  supposed  to  be  vested  in 
them  was  terrible.  The  body  and  soul,  the  present  and  the 
future,  of  the  people  for  whom  they  ministered,  were  sup- 
posed to  be  in  their  hands.f 

There  is  no  room  to  doubt  that  the  Druids  had,  in  The  popular 
common  with  all  the  sacred  castes  of  the  East,  their  secret  Druidism. 
and  their  open  doctrine.  What  the  tenets  or  speculations 
were  which  might  be  divulged  to  none  but  the  initiated, 
can  be  to  us  only  a  matter  of  conjecture.  It  is  probable 
that  they  embraced  traditionary  conceptions,  of  a  philosoph- 
ical and  religious  nature,  much  more  elevated  than  the  doc- 
trine taught  to  the  people.  In  the  popular  doctrine,  the 
future  existence  of  the  soul  had  a  prominent  place  ;  but  it 
was  a  future  existence  in  which  the  retribution  came  from 
the  conditions  through  which  the  soul  passed  in  a  series  of 
transmigrations.  ITot  less  prominent  were  the  lessons  of 
the  Druid  on  the  duty  of  worshipping  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  a  multitude  of  divinities  to  whom  the  attributes,  if  not 
the  names,  of  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Rome  were  ascribed. 
It  is  highly  probable  that  the  moral  teaching  of  the  Druids  was 
comparatively  pure,  dscountenancing  perfidy  and  violence, 

*  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  v.  c.  31.     Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  4. 

f  Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  vi.   13.      Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  4.      Pomponius  Mela,  de 
Situ  Orbis,  lib.  iii.  c.  2.     Ammian.  Marcel,  xv.     Diod.  Sic.  v. 


62 


CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 


BOOK  I, 
Chap.  4. 


Sacred 
groves. 


and  inculcating  good  nciglibourhood  in  the  time  of  peace, 
no  less  earnestly  than  bravery  and  self-sacrifice  in  the  time 
of  war.  Without  high  moral  worth  in  some  form,  the 
Druids  could  hardly  have  been  the  object  of  so  much  vener- 
ation.* 

The  oaks  of  Mamre  served  as  a  temple  to  the  Hebrew 
patriarch.  The  shadow  of  the  oak  w^as  the  temple  of  the 
Druid.  Among  a  people  with  whom  large  covered  build- 
ings had  no  existence,  there  would  be  no  such  buildings  for 
religious  worship.  To  this  fact,  probably,  more  than  to 
any  lofty  conception  of  the  Supreme  Being,  we  should  at- 
tribute the  Druid  usage  of  worship  in  the  open  air,  or 
beneath  no  other  roofing  than  the  overshadowing  of  ancient 
trees.  But  the  secret  places  in  these  groves  were  as  sacred 
as  the  recesses  of  any  temple.  These  natural  sanctuaries, 
with  their  dim  religious  light,  had  been  planted,  cleared, 
and  cultivated  so  as  to  serve  most  of  the  purposes  for  which 
spacious  buildings  are  raised  ;  and  by  the  glimpses  of  them 
permitted  on  special  occasions,  not  less  than  by  their  con- 
cealments, they  were  made  to  diffuse  a  religious  fear  over 
the  mind  of  the  multitude.  Bude  stones,  dispersed  in  the 
form  of  avenues  and  circles,  some  of  them  adjusted  in  the 
cromlech  shape,  others  so  placed  as  to  be  altar-stones,  were 
the  only  approaches  towards  architecture  to  be  seen  in  these 
sacred  inclosures.  The  stones  so  disposed  were  sometimes 
all  but  unhewn,  as  in  the  once  famous  temple  at  Abury  in 
"Wiltshire.  At  other  times  they  are  reduced  into  shape  by 
the  tool  of  the  workman,  and  raised  into  artificial  structures 
by  mechanical  skill,  as  at  Stonehenge.  In  the  figures 
described  by  them  there  was  no  doubt  a  mystic  significance, 
but  on  this  subject  our  moderns  have  speculated  to  little 
purpose.  We  should  add,  that  the  cause  which  made  the 
Druid  worship  to  be  a  worship  without  temples,  made  it  to 
be  a  worship  without  images.  In  the  history  of  bar- 
barous nations,  the  rudest  conceivable  sculpture  has  suf- 
fered to  connect  polytheism  with  idolatry.  But  the  Druids 
w^ere  intelligent  enough  to  see  that  their  object  would  not 


*  Ccesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  vi.  13.     Mela,  iii.  2.     Pliny,  xxx.  1. 
V.  c.  31.     Amm.  Mar.  xv.  42V.     Cicero,  de  Div.  i.  41. 


Diod.  Sic.  lib. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  63 

be  served  bv  the  aids  of  this  nature  within  tbeir  reach.    Their   ^}pc>K  l 

'J  .  Chap.  4 

instinct  appears  to  have  taught  tliem  that,  m  regard  to  such     

objects,  remoteness  and  invisibility  are  better  sources  of 
impression.* 

It  must  be  confessed  that  in  these  aspects  of  Druidism  nmidic 

T  1     .  .  ./>  T  ritual. 

there  is  something  elevated  and  impressive,  it  compared 
with  the  systems  which  have  obtained  among  many  nations 
in  the  same  stage  of  their  history.  The  ceremonies,  too,  of 
the  Druid  worship,  were  not  without  their  picturesque  fea- 
tures. Their  festivals  were  frequent,  and  celebrated  with 
music  and  dancing,  and  choral  hymns  in  honour  of  their 
divinities.  In  the  month  of  August  the  grand  ceremonial 
of  cutting  the  misletoe  from  the  oak  took  place.  The  chief 
Druid  ascended  the  tree  clothed  in  white,  and  severed  the 
branch  with  a  golden  knife.  Priests  stood  below  with  a 
large  white  linen  cloth  open  to  receive  the  branch  as  it  fell. 
Two  white  bulls,  fastened  by  their  horns  to  the  sacred  tree, 
were  then  offered  in  sacrifice,  and  great  rejoicings  and  feast- 
ings  foUowed.f 

But  the  ritual  of  the  Druids  was  not  on  all  occasions  of 
this  comparatively  harmless  description.  Their  sacrifices 
rose  in  value  with  their  sense  of  danger.  Hence,  in  times 
of  great  public  exigency,  even  human  victims  were  offered, 
and  these  in  great  numbers.  We  have  all  seen  in  imagina- 
tion that  colossal  image  of  wickerwork,  resembling  the 
figure  of  a  man,  which  was  sometimes  set  up  by  them,  the 
interior  filled  with  human  beings,  that  the  whole  might  be 
consumed  to  ashes  amidst  the  noise  of  instruments  and 
shoutings,  much  in  the  manner  of  the  suttee  ceremonial  only 
of  late  abolished  in  India.:}: 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  points  of  antagonism  would  be  special  re- 
strong  between  such  a  system  and  the  kind  of  rule  con-  ff  c^Ssm 
templated  by  the  Romans.     It  was  inevitable  that  the  sue-  ject^of^the 
cess  of  the  Roman  power  should  prove  fatal  to  that  of  the    ^^^^^ 

*  Gen.  xxxi.  Tacit,  de  Mor.  German,  ix.  Mona  Antiqua,  vii.-ix.  Pliny, 
N'at.  Hist.  xvi.  44.     Maxim.  Tyr.  Diss,  xxxviii..     Lucan,  iii.  412. 

f  Plin.  iVa^.  Hist.  xvi.  44.     Poland's  Hist.  Druids,  69-Y4. 

\  Ctesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  vi.  16.  Diodorus  (lib.  v.  c.  31)  and  Strabo  (lib.  iv.  c. 
4)  both  speak  of  the  Druids  as  sometimes  striking  the  man  devoted  to  sacrifice 
with  their  weapons,  and  as  affecting  to  see  future  events  in  the  throes  of  their 
victim. 


64: 


CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  4. 


Introduc- 
tion of 
Christi- 
anity. 


Druids.  So  long  as  the  two  existed  together,  the  people 
were  in  the  condition  of  being  required  to  serve  two  mas- 
ters. The  priests  of  most  other  countries,  with  more  limited 
pretensions,  might  be  tolerated,  but  here  there  could  be  no 
compromise.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Druid  was  not  only  a 
priest.  He  may  be  said  to  have  made  the  law,  and  he  ad- 
ministered it ;  and  the  foe  with  whom  he  now  had  to  deal 
could  know  nothing  of  such  authorities  in  other  hands  than 
its  own.  'No  doubt  the  occasional  cruelties  of  the  Druid 
worship  contributed,  along  with  these  causes,  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  order. 

The  fact  that  the  Romans  suppressed  the  religion  of  the 
natives — suppressed  it  with  violence  and  bloodshed — would 
not  dispose  the  Briton  to  look  with  favour  on  the  religion 
of  that  people.  We  do  not 'find,  accordingly,  that  the  gods 
of  Rome  ever  became  naturalized  in  this  country.  Tliis 
might  have  happened  if  scepticism  in  regard  to  the  claims 
of  those  gods  had  been  less  prevalent  among  their  professed 
worshippers,  and  if  the  Roman  ascendency  in  Britain  had 
been  more  genial.  The  event  shows,  that  the  power  which 
annihilated  Druidism  was  to  give  Britain  Christianity,  and 
not  another  paganism.  ITot  that  anything  of  that  nature 
was  intended.  But  it  was  inevitable  that  the  Roman  roads 
should  become  lines  of  communication,  facilitating  the  travel 
of  all  sorts  of  people,  and  of  all  sorts  of  news,  from  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  empire.  So  the  way  was  opened  for  the 
entrance  of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  pride  of  ancestry,  rarely  wanting  in  individuals,  ex- 
ists invariably  in  communities.  I^ations  wdiicli  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  a  satisfactory  origin  for  themselves, 
have  spared  no  pains  to  invent  one.  Their  beginnings  as  a 
people,  and  the  beginnings  of  everything  characteristic  and 
honourable  in  their  history,  have  been  to  them  themes  of 
interest  on  which  they  have  bestowed  no  little  embellish- 
ment. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  be  able  to  assign  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity  into  Britain  to  some  very  definite  and 
very  creditable  source.  But  this  Providence  has  not  per- 
mitted.    On  this  subject  we  possess  abundance  of  fable. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  65 

beneath  which  it  is  often  difficult  to  find  the  true  residuum    char  l 
of  history. 

The  blow  struck  at  the  Druid  power  in  Mona  by  Sueto- 
nius was  decisive.  The  prophecies  of  that  proud  order  had 
then  come  to  nothing.  The  Britons  had  not  prevailed. 
Tlie  gods  in  whom  they  trusted  had  not  shielded  them. 
The  Druids  had  perished  on  their  own  altars.  Their  ene- 
mies had  desecrated  and  destroyed  their  most  sacred  re- 
treats.    In  these  facts  were  the  seeds  of  change. 

The  ground  was  thus  prepared,  but  by  what  hand  was  Fictions 
the  next  seed  sown  ?    The  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  cept^M ""' 
Britain  has  been  ascribed  to  St.  James,  to  Simon  Zelotes,  to  tEntri-^ 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  to  the  Aristobulus  mentioned  by  chmti-^ 
St.  Paul.     But  all  these  narratives  may  be  taken  simply  as  ^°^  ^' 
so  much  illustration  of  that  credulity,  and  love  of  fable, 
which  distinguished  the  writers  of  the  Middle  Age,  espe- 
cially the  monks.^ 

It  has  been  maintained  by  some  that  Pomponia  Grse-  story  of 
cina,  the  wife  of  Aulus  Plautius,  who  was  governor  of  Brit-  gtoK* 
ain  from  a.d.  43  to  a.d.  47,  v/as  a  Christian.  The  facts  which 
are  supposed  to  warrant  this  opinion  are  the  following.  In 
Pome,  in  a.d.  56,  Pomponia  was  charged  with  having  em- 
braced some  '  foreign  superstition  ; '  on  that  charge  she  was 
tried  in  the  presence  of  her  husband  and  was  acquitted  ;  and 
subsequently,  when  a  lady  whom  she  tenderly  loved  had 
been  treacherously  put  to  death,  slie  had  a  continual  sorrow, 
and  would  never  cease  to  wear  mourning. f  It  will  be  seen 
that  these  facts  furnish  no  evidence  that  Pomponia,  the 
wife  of  Aulus  Plautius  in  Pome  in  a.d.  56,  had  been  his 
wife,  and  been  with  him  in  Britain  in  a.d.  45  ;  nor  any  evi- 
dence that  the  foreign  superstition  wliich  she  was  said  to 
have  embraced  was  Christianity.  Her  acquittal,  and  her 
continual  sorrow,  are  evidence  rather  of  a  contrary  nature. 
Had  she  been  a  Christian,  she  would  hardly  have  failed  to 
confess  herself  such ;  and  it  was  not  the  manner  of  Chris- 
tians in  those  days  to  sorrow  as  those  who  have  no  hope. 

*  Stillingfleet,  Origines  Britannicce.      Ussher,  Britannicarum  Ecclesiarum 
Antiquitates..     Henry,  Hist.  Eng.  book  i,  c.  2. 
\  Tacit.  Annal.  xiii. 

Vol.  I— .5 


66  CELTS   AND   KOMANS. 

Chap.  4  All  attempt  lias  been  made  to  identify  Pudens,  a  friend 

Of  Claudia,  of  Martial  the  poet,  and  Claudia,  a  British  lady  whom  he 
married,  with  the  Pudens  and  Claudia  mentioned  by  St. 
Paul  in  his  second  letter  to  Timothy.  But  the  mention  of 
Pudens  and  Claudia  by  Paul  is  in  a.d.  67  ;  and  the  marriage 
of  the  Pudens  and  Claudia  known  to  Martial,  and  who  are 
described  as  then  in  the  flower  of  their  age,  did  not  take 
place  until  twelve,  it  may  be  twenty,  years  later.  In  addi- 
tion to  which,  the  Pudens  and  Claudia  whose  marriage  the 
poet  celebrates,  were  persons  expected  to  be  pleased  with 
his  invoking  all  the  heathen  divinities  to  be  present  with 
their  usual  benedictions  on  the  occasion  ;  and  the  bride- 
groom at  least  is  well  known  to  have  been  a  person  not 
likely  to  be  found  cultivating  the  friendship  either  of  an 
aged  Christian  apostle,  or  of  a  young  Christian  evangelist.* 
The  only  other  names  associated  with  the  supposed  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  into  Britain  entitled  to  notice,  are 
those  of  St.  Paul  and  King  Lucius. 
Conjectures  In  suppoi't  of  tlic  claim  of  St.  Paul,  it  is  alleged  that 
to  st!  Paul.  Venantius  Fortunatus,  a  Bishop  of  Gaul,  and  Sempronius, 
a  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  have  both  stated  explicitly  that 
this  apostle  preached  the  Gospel  in  Britain.  But  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  Fortunatus  writes  as  a  poet  in  the  sixth 
century ;  that  the  language  of  Sempronius  is  cited  from  a 
panegyric  on  the  apostle  delivered  in  the  seventh  century. 
Testimony  coming  so  late,  and  from  such  sources,  can  be  of 
no  real  value.  But  it  is  added  that  many  other  writers, 
some  of  them  living  two  centuries  earlier,  assert  that  St. 
Paul  preached  the  Gospel  in  the  '  western  parts ' — an  ex- 
pression which  was  often  used  as  comprehending  Britain. 
Such  expressions,  however,  were  often  used  as  not  compre- 
hending Britain,  or  any  territory  near  it.  This  testimony, 
accordingly,  is  too  vague  to  be  of  any  weight.  It  is  further 
urged  that  there  was  an  interval  between  the  first  imprison- 
ment of  St.  Paul  in  Pome,  and  his  second  imprisonment,  in 
which  he  might  have  extended  his  labours  to  Britain,  and  in 

*  Martial,  lib.  xi.  ep.  13,  54.  2  Tim.  iv.  21.  Martial,  it  seems,  was  a  man 
who  could  cast  ridicule  on  the  sufferings  of  the  Christians. — ^Paley's  JSvid.  part  i. 
c.  2. 


EEVOLUTION    IN   RELIGION.  67 

which  it  is  probable  he  did,  inasmuch  as  we  do  not  find   book  l 

.  i,       .  •ill  Chap.  4. 

him  conspicuously  occupied  durmg  that  period  elsewhere.     

Here,  again,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  release  of  the 
apostle  from  his  first  imprisonment  in  Eome,  appears  to 
have  taken  place  in  a.d.  63  or  64,  and  hig  second  commit- 
ment was  in  a.d.  67.  But  in  a.d.  6T  he  wrote  liis  second 
letter  to  Timothy ;  and  he  there  speaks  of  his  having  re- 
cently been  at  Troas,  at  Corinth,  and  at  Miletum ;  and  of 
his  having  been  occupied  about  affairs  in  Thessalonica,  in 
Dalmatia,  in  Galatia,  in  Ephesus,  and  in  Asia  generally.  It 
is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  therefore,  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible that  the  apostle  should  have  made  a  journey  to  Brit- 
ain in  the  interval  between  his  first  and  second  imprison- 
ment— and,  of  course,  to  prove  the  possibility  in  this  case, 
would  be  by  no  means  to  prove  the  fact  l^ov  does  it 
accord  with  our  conception  of  a  man  who  had  a  right  to 
speak  of  himself  as  Paul  the  aged,  to  suppose  that  he  added 
to  all  the  occupations  above  indicated,  in  the  short  space  of 
three  or  four  years,  the  great  labour  that  must  have  been 
incurred  even  to  have  made  a  hasty  visit  to  this  remote 
island.* 

Concerning  the  story  of  King  Lucius,  the  statement  of 
Bede  is,  that  he  was  '  Kins;  of  Britain : '  that  in  the  year  King 

^  °  7  ./  Lucius. 

A.D.  156  he  sent  a  letter  to  Eleutherius,  Bishop  of  Rome, 
praying  that  by  his  authority  he  might  be  allowed  to  pro- 
fess himself  a  Christian  ;  and  that  this  pious  wish  being  com- 
plied with,  Christianity  retained  its  footing  in  this  island 
from  tliat  time.f  Wennius,  Abbot  of  Bangor,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  written  about  the  close  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, says  that,  in  'a.d.  167,  King  Lucius,  with  all  the  Brit- 
ish chiefs,  received  baptism  from  the  hands  of  messengers 
sent  by  the  Eoman  emperors,  and  by  Pope  Evaristus.'J  It 
would  require  large  space  to  point  out  the  strange  confu- 
sions in  history  and  chronology  included  in  these  brief  state- 
ments. "Whence  Bede  or  I^ennius  obtained  their  informa- 
tion we  know  not.     But  here  we  have  Lucius  as  *  King  of 

*  Stillingfleet,  Antiquities.     Cave's  Lives  of  the  Apost.  ii.  290.     1  Tim.  i. 
3  ;  2  Tim.  iv ;  Tit.  i.  5  ;  iii.  12  ;  Acts  xiv.  xv.  xviii.  xix. 

f  Bede,  IJccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  iv.  %  Hist.  Brit.  c.  18. 


68 


CELTS   AND  EOMAKS. 


CHA^i'  Britain,'  leading  ^  all  the  British  chiefs'  to  baptism,  at  a 
time  when  the  Romans  had  long  since  dispensed  with  the 
services  of  kings  in  this  island,  and  when,  if  the  very  race 
had  not  ceased  to  exist,  their  being  permitted  to  reign  had 
come  to  an  end.  Here,  too,  we  find  the  emperors  of  Eome 
taking  upon  them,  in  a.d.  167,  to  patronize  Christianity, 
and,  in  conjunction  with  the  Bishop,  or  rather  the  '  Pope' 
of  Rome,  sending  forth  legations  of  Christian  priests  to  ac- 
complish the  work  of  conversion  among  heathen  men  at  the 
outposts  of  their  empire  !  That  Pope  Evaristus  might  be 
the  favoured  instrument  in  this  memorable  proceeding,  it  is 
contrived  by  l^ennius  that  a  man  who  had  died  in  a.d.  109 
should  be  alive  in  a.d.  167.  Bede,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
he  might  assign  this  honour  to  Pope  Eleutherius,  makes  that 
ecclesiastic  to  have  been  Bishop  of  Rome  when  he  had  still 
many  years  to  serve  in  offices  more  humble.  Gildas,  our 
oldest  British  authority  on  British  history,  was  a  monk  of 
Bangor,  and  lived  in  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  ;  but  it 
is  manifest,  that  of  this  marvellous  story  about  King  Lucius, 
Gildas  knew  nothing,  nor  of  any  story  resembling  it.  Euse- 
bius,  the  careful  chronicler  of  all  such  events.,  is  in  like 
manner  silent.  The  fact  is,  that  between  the  age  of  Gildas 
and  Nennius,  it  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  im- 
portance that  the  clergy  of  the  British  churches,  who  had 
sought  refuge  in  Wales,  should  be  able  to  make  out  as  good 
a  claim  to  a  Roman  and  apostolic  origin  as  the  clergy  who 
had  been  sent  by  Pope  Gregory  to  convert  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  ;  and  this  tale  concerning  Lucius  appears  to  have 
been  the  fabrication  of  some  British  ecclesiastic,  intended  to 
meet  this  exigency,  and  to  put  the  clergy  of  "Wales  upon  as 
honourable  a  footing  as  their  neighbours.  In  an  age  so  little 
critical  on  matters  of  history,  this  was  not  a  difficult  work 
to  accomplish.* 

But  the  question  may  still  be  asked — are  we,  then,  left 

*  The  credulity  even  of  such  men  as  Ussher  and  Stillingfleet,  in  regard  to 
the  fictions  which  have  obtained  currency  touching  the  introduction  of  Christian- 
ity into  this  country,  is  not  a  little  surprising.  The  evidence  which  Ussher  would 
have  adduced  from  an  ancient  coin,  said  to  bear  the  sign  of  a  cross,  and  to  have 
the  name  of  Lucius  indicated  in  the  letters  L.  U.  C,  has  been  shown  by  Mr,  Hal- 
lam  to  be  altogether  fallacious.  See  the  paper  on  this  whole  story  in  the  Arche- 
olocfia,  xxxiii.  208  et  seq. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  69 

without  any  knowledge  as  to  when  or  how  Christianity  first   ^p^^  l 
became  known  in  this  island  ?     Our  answer  to  this  question  „  — - 

.  .  1  1111  ^^®  proba- 

is,  that  we  may  imagine  the  probable,  where  we  cannot  {»*'»*/  ^  to 
attain  to  the  certain.  The  known  may  be  sufficient  to  war-  J,'^^;^'^'"  ^^ 
rant  highly  reasonable  conjecture  as  to  the  unknown.  We  f^^%^, 
know  that  communication  between  Britain  and  the  Con-  ^^"• 
tinent  became  regular  and  settled  in  the  apostolic  age.  We 
know  also  that  before  that  age  had  closed,  Suetonius  had 
destroyed  the  power  of  the  Druids.  Through  more  than 
two  centuries  from  that  time  Britain  was  in  a  state  of  com- 
parative tranquillity.  The  legions  and  auxiliaries  trans- 
ported to  this  country  often  consisted  of  men  who  had  been 
long  resident  in  Gaul,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  empire, 
where,  before  the  end  of  the  first  century,  Christianity  had 
been  widely  propagated.  Trade  intercourse  with  this  coun- 
try increased  rapidly,  and  brought  with  it  the  usual  inter- 
changes of  thought.  Christians  in  those  days,  moreover, 
were  zealous  in  an  extraordinary  degree — as  Pliny's  letters 
to  Trajan  abundantly  show — in  endeavours  to  diffuse  their 
doctrine.  Tlie  Christian  soldier  made  it  a  matter  of  daily 
talk  with  his  comrades.  The  Christian  merchant  found  oc- 
casion for  discourse  upon  it  amidst  his  buying  and  selling. 
The  rich  Christian  taught  it  to  his  slave,  and  the  Christian 
slave  dared  to  speak  of  it  to  his  master.  Every  Christian 
had  his  mission.  His  sacramental  pledge  had  been,  not 
only  to  hold  the  truth  unto  the  death,  but  to  endeavour  by 
all  available  means  to  make  it  known  to  others.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  public  teaching  of  Christianity  was  little 
known  until  these  more  obscure  but  earnest  efforts  had 
sufficed  to  bring  very  many  to  profess  themselves  Christians. 
Having  resolved  to  annihilate  Druidism,  the  concern  of  the 
Roman  would  naturally  be  that  his  own  religion  should 
come  into  its  place.  Hence  any  conspicuous  mode  of  at- 
tempting to  make  proselytes  to  a  new  and  unrecognized 
faith  would  be  viewed  with  suspicion  and  discouraged.  Tlie 
first  converts  would  probably  be  made  in  the  colonies  and 
towns,  but  the  more  open  exercise  of  worship  would  take 
place  in  districts  less  subject  to  the  eye  of  authority.  It 
is  to  the  jealousy  of  this  authority  that  we  are  indebted  for 


70  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

ch^4"    ^^^  earliest  authentic  information  concerning  the  Christian 

religion  in  Britain. 

^fBtiSlh"^  Towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian  the  obscu- 
uSdio-  ^^*7  ^^  which  the  professors  of  the  Gospel  in  Britain  appear  to 
cietian.  havo  bccn  content  to  remain  was  to  continue  no  longer. 
The  persecution  which  had  dragged  such  men  into  fame  in 
other  provinces,  for  some  years  past,  now  began  to  do  its 
work  in  this  island.  It  is  not  probable  that  Constantius, 
who  had  recently  put  an  end  to  the  usurpation  of  Carausius 
and  Alectus  in  Britain,  was  a  party  to  these  proceedings. 
The  blame  rests,  we  have  reason  to  think,  on  some  subordi- 
nate who  was  disposed  to  gratify  his  love  of  rule  by  availing 
himself  of  the  imperial  edicts  against  the  Christians — man- 
dates which  had  been  disregarded  under  the  late  usurped 
authority.  The  account  given  by  Bede  is,  that  a  man  named 
Alban,  residing  at  Yerulam,  sheltered  a  Christian  priest 
from  the  search  of  his  persecutors,  and  that,  being  w^on  by 
the  holy  demeanour  of  his  guest,  Alban  became  himself  a 
Christian.  So  that,  when  soldiers  came  to  demand  that  the 
priest  should  be  delivered  into  their  hands,  Alban  presented 
himself  in  the  place  of  the  man  whom  he  had  concealed, 
declaring  himself  a  Christian.  Of  the  miracles  w^hich  gaA^e 
their  splendour  to  his  martyrdom  we  need  say  nothing. 
But  that  there  was  a  martyr  at  Yerulam  of  the  name  of 
Alban,  who  was  afterwards  canonized,  and  from  whom  the 
town  of  St.  Albans  derives  its  name,  may  be  accepted  as 
history.  Bede  relates,  moreover,  that  many  more,  of  both 
sexes,  and  in  other  places,  suffered  in  like  manner,  and  makes 
special  mention  of  '  Aaron  and  Julius,'  citizens  of  the  '  Ilrbs 
Legionum' — that  is,  of  Caerleon  on  the  Usk — as  having 
shown  themselves  faithful  unto  death.* 

Gildas,  Orosius,  and  Bede  all  relate  that  this  persecution 
having  come  to  an  end  on  the  accession  of  Constantius,  the 
father  of  Constantino  the  Great,  the  persecuted  in  Britain 
left  their  hiding-places  in  '  the  woods  and  deserts,  and  secret 
caves  ;  rebuilt  the  churches  which  had  been  levelled  to  the 
ground,  and  raised  many  new  edifices  in  honour  of  the 
martyrs.'f     These  descriptions  seem  to  imply  that  before 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  6,  7.  +  Ibid.  lib.  i.  c.  8. 


REVOLUTION   IN   BELIGION.  71 

the  close  of  the  reign  of  Diocletian  the  Christians  in  Britain    cha?  l 
must  have  been  numerous,  and  have  been  possessed  of  con- 
siderable  substance. 

Nine  years  after  the  close  of  the  Diocletian  persecution,  British 
Constantino  assembled  the  council  of  Aries,  in  which  five  ec-  the  Sincii 
clesiastics  are  reported  as  present  from  Britain — three  under 
the  title  of  bishops,  the  fourth  as  a  priest,  the  fifth  as  a  dea- 
con. The  first  bishop  was  from  York,  the  second  from 
London,  and  the  third  probably  from  Lincoln.  The  whole 
number  of  bishops  present  from  the  western  provinces,  in- 
cluding Africa,  was  thirty-three.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fourth  century  the  worship  and 
organization  of  the  Christian  communities  in  Britain  had 
become  so  well  known  and  settled,  as  to  secure  them  a  re- 
cognised place  in  the  great  Christian  commonwealth  of 
those  times.  We  may  presume  that  the  acts  of  the  council 
of  Aries  were  received  as  law  by  the  Christians  of  Britain 
in  the  fourth  century.  The  members  of  that  council  showed 
themselves  careful  to  ensure  that  the  men  who  ministered 
in  holy  things  should  be  men  of  a  blameless  life,  and  that 
the  j)rivileges  of  the  Christian  fellowship  should  be  restricted 
to  persons  whose  lives  were  distinguished  by  Christian  con- 
duct, and  by  fidelity  to  their  profession.  No  bishop  was  to 
obtrude  in  the  province  of  another  bishop ;  no  bishop  was 
to  be  ordained  without  the  presence  and  concurrence  of 
seven  other  bishops ;  clergymen  were  not  to  be  usurers, 
nor  to  be  wanderers  from  place  to  place,  but  to  be  resident 
in  the  place  in  which  they  were  ordained.  Deacons  were 
not  to  administer  the  eucharist.  Among  the  persons  to  be 
suspended  or  excluded  from  communion  were  females  who 
had  married  heathen  husbands,  charioteers  in  public  games, 
actors  in  theatres,  or  clergymen  who  had  betrayed  their 
brethren,  or  delivered  up  the  sacred  books  and  sacred  things 
of  the  church  into  profane  hands  in  the  times  of  persecution. 
No  person  who  had  once  been  baptised  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity  was  to  be  rebaptised.  No  person  excommunicated 
by  one  church  was  to  be  received  by  another.* 

*  Labbe,  Concil.  ed.  Harduin.  i. 


tius. 


72  CELTS  AND  KOMANS. 

cha?4'         ^^^  Arian  controversy  began  about  a.d.  317.     Eight 
orth^y    y^^^s  IsiteY  it  led  to  the  assembling  of  the  memorable  council 
^h^ch^rch.  ^^  ^ice.     Some  of  the  Britons  are  said  to  have  taken  the 
heterodox  side  in  this  dispute.     But  if  the  infection  existed, 
it  must  have  been  very  partial  and  temporary.     Athanasius, 
Jerome,  and  Chrysostom,  all  proclaim  the  Britons  as  faith- 
ful to  the  Mcene  doctrine.     The  loose  expressions  of  Gildas 
and  Bede  on  this  point  must  be  judged  in  connexion  with 
such  facts.* 
British  mo-         Mouasticism  obtained  root  in  Britain  in  the  fourth  cen- 

nacnism — 

fnd^cSes-  ^^^^J'  And  if  the  speculations  of  Pelagius,  a  monk  of  Ban- 
gor, might  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  the  intelligence  of  his 
order,  we  should  be  disposed  to  think  favourably  of  the 
mental  training  to  be  realized  in  the  monasteries  of  Britain 
in  those  days.  Pelagius  was  a  man  of  pure  life,  of  consid- 
erable learning,  of  some  ethical  acuteness,  and  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  leading  ecclesiastics  of  his  time,  and  with 
the  affairs  of  the  Church  generally.  "Nov  is  there  any  room 
to  doubt  his  sincere  piety.  His  great  antagonist  Augustine, 
chamj)ion  of  orthodoxy  as  he  was,  is  magnanimous  enough 
to  say  of  him,  '  I  not  only  loved  him  once,  I  love  him  still.' 
His  errors  are  all  of  the  kind  most  common  in  the  history  of 
opinion — the  errors  of  reaction.  Scandalized  by  the  evils  he 
saw  resulting  from  a  false  dependence  on  ritualism,  and  on 
priestly  service  in  the  sacraments,  and  not  less  by  the  covert 
excuse  for  sin  which  had  become  prevalent  among  the  ortho- 
dox under  the  plea  of  the  moral  inability  of  man,  Pelagius 
laboured  to  give  prominence  to  the  moral  and  spiritual  side 
of  the  Christian  life,  as  embracing  a  department  of  truth 
and  duty  which  the  Church  was  in  danger  of  forgetting  or 
neglecting.  But  his  halting-place  was  not  the  right  one. 
Pressed  by  opponents,  he  learnt  to  deny  that  there  is  any 
inherent  bias  towards  evil  in  man.  Every  man,  he  taught, 
has  power  from  himself  to  obey  the  law  of  God ;  and  his 
salvation  depends  on  tlie  purity  of  his  life,  not  on  anything 
speculative  or  outward.  In  Christianity,  as  presented  in 
the  Scriptures,  there  is  a  transcendent  teaching,  and  through 
it  a  divine  influence  comes  to  aid  man  in  all  moral  and 

*  Stillingflect,  Antiquities^  1%. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  73 

Spiritual  effort.  This  is  the  substance  and  mission  of  the  book  l 
Gospel.  It  does  not,  he  maintained,  bring  redemption  or  — '- 
salvation  in  the  sense  commonly  understood.  In  Celestius, 
a  brother  monk,  who  was  also  a  native  of  Britain,  Pelagius 
found  a  coadjutor,  his  equal  in  zeal,  his  superior,  it  is  said, 
in  the  subtlety  of  his  reasoning.  By  their  joint  labours  a 
controversy  was  raised  which  agitated  both  the  East  and 
West  for  some  time. 

It  does  not  appear  that  either  Pelagius  or  Celestius  ever  Preaching 
visited  this  island  after  the  publication  of  their  opinions  had  ana  oerma- 
made  them  notorious.   Bede,  however,  relates  that  in  a.d.  429,  tain, 
the  Pelagian  doctrine  had  been  so  far  embraced  in  Britain,    • 
that  the  native  clergy  became  alarmed,  and  solicited  help 
from  their  more  skilful  brethren  in  Gaul,  whence  the  new 
doctrine  had  come  to  them.     As  the  result,  a  number  of  the 
Gallic  clergy  came  to  Britain,  with  the  bishops  Lupus  and 
Germanus  at  their  head ;  and  these  holy  men,  it  is  said, 
having  filled  the  land  with  the  fame  of  their  miracles,  so 
confuted  the  heretics,  in  the  presence  of  great  multitudes  of 
people,  that  they  were  brought  to  confess  their  errors.* 

These  events  belong  to  the  early  part  of  the  fifth  century,  summary  of 
By  that  time  the  natives  of  Britain  may  be  said,  we  think,  tion  in  reii- 
to  have  abandoned  their  heathenism.  Much  of  its  influence 
no  doubt  survived,  but  the  new  faith  had  become  ascendant. 
Great  was  the  revolution  in  ideas,  in  dispositions,  and  in 
usages  which  this  change  involved.  The  Christianity  pro- 
fessed may  not  have  been  of  the  most  enlightened  descrip- 
tion ;  but  it  gave  to  the  people  of  this  country  their  first 
true  conception  of  the  Infinite,  and  it  raised  their  thoughts  to 
Him  as  to  their  Father  through  Christ.  Humanity  in  Christ 
was  before  them  as  presenting  the  great  manifestation  of 
the  Divine,  the  great  pattern  of  the  Human,  Time  was  to 
develop  the  germ  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  change  in- 
cluded in  this  fact.  With  this  new  object  of  worship  came 
new  views  of  human  duty  and  of  human  destiny.  Tlie  reign 
of  horrors,  so  often  shadowed  forth  in  the  rites  of  the  Druid 
grove,  was  succeeded  by  the  calm  and  benign  influence  of  a 
Christian  worship  ;  and  this  new  apprehension  of  the  Great 

*  Ecdes.  Hist  i.  c.  vii. 


74:  CELTS    AND    KOMANS. 

c2a?4'  ^^^^^^  ^^  humanity  was  inseparable  from  a  new  apprehen- 
sion  of  humanity  itself.  It  is  thus  that  religious  enlighten- 
ment comes  to  be  one  of  the  surest  guarantees  for  enlighten- 
ment in  regard  to  all  feeling  and  all  action.  Tliis  revolu- 
tion in  religion,  long  advancing  in  secret,  became  visible 
and  consolidated  in  the  fifth  century.  The  new  faith  bid 
fair  to  leaven  the  entire  mind  of  the  country.  Its  effect  on 
that  portion  of  the  British  race  which  was  to  survive  the 
approaching  troubles  was  deep  and  permanent.  The  Brit- 
ons are  no  more  known  in  history  as  pagans.  Those  of 
them  who  are  found  in  the  fastnesses  of  Wales  after  the  de- 
parture of  the  Romans,  and  after  the  invasion  of  the  Saxons, 
are  Christian  Britons,  with  a  Christian  hierarchy,  a  Chris- 
tian literature  and  a  Christian  civilization  sufficiently  strong 
to  eradicate  whatever  remains  of  their  old  faith  or  usage 
may  still  have  been  left  with  them.  All  these  acquisitions 
they  must  have  carried  with  them  into  their  mountain 
homes.  There  was  no  channel  of  communication  through 
which  they  could  have  received  them  afterwards.  We  have 
seen,  however,  that  it  is  much  easier  to  show  that  these  ab- 
origines of  Britain  did  really  become  Chrstians  in  those 
early  times,  than  to  say  exactly  when,  or  by  what  means, 
this  revolution  was  brought  to  pass. 


CHAPTER   V. 

EFFECT  OF  THE   E0MA:N"  ASCENDENCY  ON  SOCIAL  LIFE. 

AMOE'G  the  industrial  arts,  that  of  procuring  the  means    book  i. 
of  subsistence  is  manifestly  one  of  the  most  necessary  ^  ~^jo 
and  primitive.     Barbarous  tribes  obtain  their  food,  in  a  gj^^jfg'^® 
great  degree,  by  hunting,  fishing,  and  by  expedients  to  en- 
snare animals.     In  the  time  of  Caesar,  the  rudest  inhabi- 
tants of  Britain  would  seem  to  have  passed  considerably 
beyond  that   stage.     Those  who  did  not   till  the  ground 
reared  abundance  of  cattle.     Many,  especially  in  the  country 
bordering  on  the  southern  coast,  cultivated  their  lands  with 
manure  and  with  the  plough,  and  were  wont  to   supply 
themselves  with  corn  and  other  products  by  such  means.* 

It  was  the  manner  of  the  Romans  to  encourage  agricul- 
ture in  every  country  that  became  subject  to  their  sway. 
The  rich  products  of  the  East  were  soon  naturalized  to  a 
large  extent  in  the  less  favoured  climate  of  the  West.  The 
vine,  the  olive,  and  many  luscious  fruits,  such  as  the  apricot, 
the  peach,  and  the  orange,  passed  from  Italy  into  Spain  and 
Gaul.  Britain  shared  largely  in  these  influences.  The 
veterans  who  founded  colonies  became  zealous  cultivators 
of  the  lands  which  fell  to  their  share,  and  taught  the  Brit 
ons,  both  directly,  and  indirectly,  to  excel  in  such  labours.f 
In  the  fourth  century  the  corn  produced  in  this  island  was 
conveyed  in  large  quantities  to  other  provinces  of  the  em- 
pire, especially  to  Gaul  and  Germany.  Upon  an  emergency, 
in  A.D.  359,  more  than  eight  hundred  vessels  were  employed 

*  Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  v.  10-12. 

f  Scriptores  Rei  RusticcB  a  Gesnero,  torn.  i. 


were 
clothed 


76  CELTS   AND  ROMANS. 

c?iA?5^*  ^^  carrying  grain  from  Britain  to  the  Ehine.*  N'or  was  it 
in  tlie  field  only  that  the  skill  and, industry  of  the  British  hus- 
bandman became  visible.  His  vines,  his  trees  bearing 
pleasant  fruits,  and  his  gardens  generally,  bore  witness  to 
the  facility  with  which  he  could  learn  what  his  conquerors 
were  prepared  to  teach.f  Indeed,  there  is  good  reason  to 
suppose  that  our  agriculture  was  in  a  more  prosperous  state 
under  the  Romans,  than  at  any  subsequent  period  in  our 
history  during  the  next  thousand  years. 
Bri^ns^  Next  to  the  need  of  food  man  feels  the  need  of  clothing. 

In  the  time  of  Caesar,  many  of  the  inland  tribes  of  Britain 
had  probably  little  better  clothing  that  the  skins  of  animals, 
their  bodies  being  in  great  part  naked.  But  we  are  not  ob- 
liged to  conclude  that  those  skins  w^ere  not  prepared  with 
some  skill  for  their  use  ;  and  we  have  seen,  that  some  cen- 
turies earlier,  there  were  Britons  known  to  the  Phosnicians 
who  wore  garments  of  cloth.;}:  At  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era  the  Gauls  produced  woollen  cloths  of  various 
textures,  and  could  dye  them  of  various  colours.  Tlie  man- 
ufacture of  linen  is  an  advance  beyond  the  manufacture  of 
woollen  ;  and  this  know^ledge  was  familiar  at  that  time  to 
the  Gauls.  Scarcely  anything  of  this  nature  could  have 
been  known  in  Gaul,  and  have  been  unknown  to  the  Belgic 
settlers  in  Britain.§  The  costume  of  Boadicea  is  described 
as  rich  and  queenly,  and  that  of  the  men  and  women  of 
distinction  about  her  would  bear  some  resemblance  to  it.|| 
Ancient  writers  often  speak  of  the  Gauls  and  Britons  as  one 
people  in  regard  to  all  such  exercises  of  skill.  Pliny 
describes  the  simple  process  by  which  the  people  of  both 
countries  managed  to  bleach  their  linen s.^f 

The  accounts  which  ancient  writers  have  given  of  the 

*  Ammianus  Marcel,  lib.  xviii.  c.  2.     Zgsimus,  Hist.  lib.  iii.  c.  5. 

f  Script.  Hist.  August.  942.      Tacitus,  Vita  Agric.  xii. 

X  Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  v.  14.  Pomponius  Mela,  iii.  c.  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist. 
xiii.  11.     Strabo,  lib.  iii.  c.  v.  §  11. 

§  '  The  Gauls  wear  the  sagum,  let  their  hair  grow,  and  wear  short  breeches. 
Instead  of  tunics,  they  wear  a  slashed  garment  with  sleeves,  'descending  a  little 
below  the  hips.  The  wool  of  their  sheep  is  coarse,  but  long :  from  it  they  weave 
the  thick  saga  called  laines.' — Strabo,  lib.  iv.  c.  iv.  §  8.  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  lib. 
viii.  c.  48,  xxii.  c.  2.     Diodorus. 

II  Xiphilin.  in  Nero. 

^  Nat.  Hist.  xix.  c.  1 ;   xx.  c.  19 ;   xxviil.  c.  12. 


REVOLrTION   IN   SOCIAL   LIFE.  Y7 

ancient  war-cliariot,  show  that  the  useful  arts  must  have  chaks.' 
been  in  an  advanced  state  in  Britain  before  the  first  Koman  useful 
invasion.  All  these  writers  concur  in  praising  the  skill,  and  Stt^"^' 
even  the  elegance,  displayed  in  the  construction  and  man- 
ao*ement  of  these  machines.  It  is  clear,  from  what  we  know 
of  the  war-chariot,  that  there  must  have  been  Britons  at  that 
time  who  were  good  smiths,  carpenters,  and  wheelwrights. 
Such  men  would  be  capable  of  building  houses,  and  of 
producing  furniture,  after  a  manner  unknown  among 
nations  in  the  lower  state  of  barbarism.  The  scythes  fas- 
tened to  the  axle  of  the  chariot,  and  the  weapons  used  by 
the  warrior,  bespeak  considerable  proficiency  in  the  work- 
ing of  metals.'^  Then  there  was  the  harness,  which,  rude 
as  it  may  have  been,  must  have  been  adapted  to  its  purpose 
by  many  arts  that  would  have  their,  value  in  many  pro- 
cesses besides  that  of  harness-making.  We  have  abundance 
of  evidence  that  the  Britons  of  both  sexes  were  disposed  to 
a  profuse  use  of  ornament  in  dress.  Gold  was  worn  about 
the  wrists  and  arms,  and  on  the  breast.  The  tovo — a  twisted 
collar  for  the  neck — was  often  of  that  precious  metal.  Dur- 
ing more  than  two  thousand  years  that  ornament  is  known 
to  have  been  in  use  among  the  Celts.  The  tore  was  a  sym- 
bol of  rank,  and  the  numbers  of  them  taken  from  the  Gauls 
w^ere  often  among  the  richest  spoils  of  the  Eomans  in  their 
wars  with  that  people.  They  are  mentioned  as  among  the 
trophies  in  the  procession  in  which  Caractacus  made  his  ap- 
pearance.f  Many  of  the  trinkets  found  in  the  burial-places 
of  the  pagan  Britons  are  of  inferior  substance.  They  are 
found  in  bronze,  in  amber^  and  in  glass  ;  but  those  of  more 
costly  substance  were  in  use.  Many  of  these  articles  were  no 
doubt  imported,  but  many  were  native  productions,  and 
evinced  the  native  skill.     The  comforts  of  home-life — the 

*  The  Gauls  do  not  appear  to  have  used  the  chariot  in  war.  Some  critics 
have  come  to  doubt  whether  the  British  war-chariot  was  really  scythed.  But  the 
evidence  in  favour  of  the  common  opinion  on  that  point  is  not,  I  think,  to  be 
set  aside. 

\  Titus  Manlius,  as  we  have  all  read,  was  named  Torquatus,  from  the  tore 
which  he  tore  from  the  neck  of  a  gigantic  Gaul.  Aneurin,  the  great  Welsh 
bard,  who  wrote  in  the  sixth  century,  laments  the  loss  of  several  '  golden  torcked 
sons '  in  the  memorable  battle  of  Cattraeth.  Some  three  hundred  Britons  who 
wore  that  mark  of  rank  are  said  to  have  fallen  on  that  day. 


78 


CELTS    AND   EOMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  5. 


Causes  un- 
favourable 
to  civiliza- 
tion in 
ancient 
Britain. 


British 
earth- 
works. 


homestead,  the  furniture,  and  the  food,  could  hardly  have 
been  obtained  from  a  distance. 

There  were,  however,  many  causes  which  precluded  the 
Britons  before  the  age  of  Caesar  from  making  all  the  provi- 
sion for  their  wants  in  this  respect  which  they  might  have 
m'ade.  Britain  in  those  early  times  was  parcelled  out  be- 
tween many  separate  communities,  who  were  almost  per- 
petually at  war  with  each  other ;  and  the  buildings  of  to- 
day were  too  often  reared  with  the  feeling  that  destruction 
might  come  npon  them  to-morrow.  Csesar  and  Strabo 
indeed  tell  us  that  the  Britons  gave  the  name  of  a  city  to  a 
collection  of  rude  huts  enclosed  by  a  mound  or  stockade.* 
In  the  Britain  which  Csesar  saw,  the  places  of  security  were 
no  doubt  much  of  that  description.  But  the  strongest 
earthworks  of  the  Britons,"  even  in  those  days,  were  not  in 
forests,  but  on  high  lands,  wherever  such  lands  were  avail- 
able. Many  of  the  positions  thus  chosen  by  them  were 
afterwards  occupied  as  beacon  and  military  stations  by  the 
Romans,  though  the  Roman  encampment  was  required  to 
be  square,  while  the  British  works  were  always  circular. 
This  latter  form,  in  many  of  the  earthworks  which  remain 
over  a  large  portion  of  the  island  to  this  d^y,  demonstrates 
their  early  British  origin,  occupied  and  disturbed  as  they 
have  often  been  since,  not  only  by  the  Romans,  but  by  Sax- 
ons and  Danes.  Of  such  works  Caesar  saw  nothing.  The 
Malvern  Hills,  Little  Doward,  Bass-church,  and  Silchester 
are  among  the  localities  remarkable  for  British  works  of  this 
description.  In  the  last-mentioned  place  there  have  been 
the  traces  of  a  town  regularly  mapped  out,  and  enclosed  with 
stone  walls,  which  should  be  attributed,  we  think,  on  various 
grounds,  to  British  skill  before  the  invasion  under  Claudius. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  the  life  of  the  Britons  even  to 
the  time  of  this  second  invasion,  continued  to  be  to  a  large 
extent  a  herdsman's  life ;  and  that  these  fortified  places 
were  not  so  much  places  of  residence,  as  places  of  safety  for 
themselves  and  their  flocks  in  time  of  danger.  Caesar  him- 
self speaks  of  the  houses  he  saw  in  Britain  as  resembling 


*  Strabo,  lib.  iv.     Rowland's  Mona,  38,  39.     Cassar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  iv.  12. 


REVOLUTION   IN    SOCIAL   LIFE.  Y9 

those  in  Gaul.  Now  Gaul  was  not  a  country  of  wigwams,  i^,^^^  l 
It  contained  cities  of  considerable  strength  and  beauty.  — '—' 
Before  the  close  of  the  first  century,  when  the  Romans  had 
still  their  conquest  to  achieve  in  this  country,  London,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  become  a  place  of  great  traffic,  and  of  many 
thousand  inhabitants.  Early  in  the  second  century,  Ptol- 
emy makes  mention  of  nearly  sixty  cities  then  existing  in 
Britain.  Some  of  these  cities  the  Romans  had  created,  but 
much  the  greater  number  consisted"  of  Roman  settlements 
fixed  on  British  roads,  and  grafted  on  British  towns.  Ex- 
eter, for  example,  had  been  the  capital — the  place  of  gen- 
eral gathering,  for  the  people  of  that  part  of  Britain  from 
the  earliest  time.  It  was  thus  almost  everywhere.  The 
old  sites  became  the  home  of  the  new  masters.  In  the  in- 
terior and  remote  districts,  the  dwelling-places  of  our  ances- 
tors at  the  time  of  the  first  Roman  invasion,  were  no  doubt 
for  the  most  part  of  a  very  humble  description.  They  were 
generally  circular  in  form,  constructed  of  wood,  the  spaces 
between  the  framework  being  filled  up  with  mortar  or  clay, 
the  covering  being  of  reeds  or  thatch.  Tlie  roof  was  of  a 
cone  shape,  with  an  opening  at  the  summit  to  admit  light, 
and  to  give  egress  to  the  smoke,  the  interior  presenting  a 
rounded  apartment  with  its  fire  on  the  earth  in  the  centre. 
"Wretched  as  such  hovels  may  be  deemed,  large  portions  of 
the  subjects  of  great  monarchies  in  modern  Europe  have 
been  hardly  better  housed.  Such  erections  as  Stonehenge, 
through  reared  by  Druids,  evince  a  knowledge  of  mechanics 
which  cannot  be  supposed  to  exist  apart  from  much  useful 
knowledge  beside.  The  whole  track  of  the  Celtic  tribes,  in 
their  migration  from  the  east  to  the  west,  is  marked  by  such 
monuments.  The  works  of  this  nature  at  Abury  in  Wilt- 
shire are  of  greater  extent  than  those  of  Stonehenge,  and 
those  of  the  temple  of  Carnac  in  Gaul  were  greater  still.* 

*  The  following  passages  descriptive  of  the  character  and  manners  of  the 
Gauls  in  the  age  of  Caesar  are  no  doubt  applicable  substantially  to  the  Britons  at 
that  time  :  '  The  entire  race  which  now  goes  by  the  name  of  Gallic,  or  Galatic 
(Gauls),  is  warlike,  passionate,  and  always  ready  for  fighting,  but  otherwise  sim- 
ple, and  not  malicious.  If  irritated,  they  rush  in  crowds  to  the  conflict,  openly 
and  without  any  circumspection,  and  thus  are  easily  vanquished  by  those  who 
employ  stratagem.  For  any  one  may  exasperate  them  when,  where,  and  under 
whatever  pretext  he  pleases :  he  will  always  find  them  ready  for  danger,  with 


80 


CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 


BOOK  T. 
Chap.  5. 


Koman 

civilization 

introduced. 


The  aptness  of  the  Britons  to  learn  whatever  Ganl,  or  Rome 
itself,  could  teach,  is  amply  attested  by  Tacitus,  whose  in- 
formation must  have  come  from  the  best  authority — from 
the  great  Agricola.* 

But  the  settlement  of  the  Romans,  of  course  introduced 
both  the  useful  arts  and  the  embellishments  of  life,  in  the 
maturity  which  had  then  been  given  to  them  among  the 
most  civilized  nations.  The  fraternities  and  corporations  of 
weavers,  and  of  other  crafts,  which  were  protected  and  pa- 
tronized by  the  Roman  State,  soon  made  their  appearance 
in  this  country,  as  in  the  other  provinces  of  the  empire,  and 
the  artisans  in  Rome  produced  few  articles  of  utility  or  lux- 
ury that  were  not  also  produced  in  Britain.  "Winchester 
was  to  the  people  of  those  times  very  much  what  Leeds  and 
Manchester  have  since  become  to  ourselves.f 


nothing  to  support  them  except  their  violence  and  daring.  Nevertheless,  they 
may  be  easily  persuaded  to  devote  themselves  to  anything  useful,  and  have  thus 
engaged  both  in  science  and  letters.  The  most  valiant  of  them  dwell  towards 
the  north  and  next  the  ocean.  Of  these  they  say  the  JBelgce  are  the  bravest,  and 
have  sustained  themselves  single-handed  against  the  Germans,  the  Cimbri,  and 
the  Teutons — their  equipment  is  in  keeping  with  the  size  of  their  bodies.  They 
have  a  long  sword  hanging  at  their  right  side,  a  long  shield,  and  lances  in  pro- 
portion ;  together  with  a  maclaris,  somewhat  resembling  a  javelin.  Some  of 
them  also  use  bows  and  slings ;  they  have  also  a  piece  of  wood  resembling  a 
pilum,  which  they  hurl,  not  out  of  a  thong,  but  from  their  hand,  and  ta  a  further 
distance  than  an  arrow.  They  principally  make  use  of  it  in  shooting  birds.  To 
the  present  day  most  of  them  lie  on  the  ground,  and  take  their  meals  seated  on 
straw.  They  subsist  principally  on  milk  and  on  all  kinds  of  flesh,  especially  that 
of  swine,  which  they  eat  fresh  and  salted.  Their  swine  live  in  the  fields,  and 
surpass  in  height,  strength,  and  swiftness.  To  persons  unaccustomed  to  approach 
them  they  are  almost  as  dangerous  as  wolves.  The  people  dwell  in  great  arched 
houses,  constructed  of  planks  and  wicker,  and  covered  with  a  heavy  thatched 
roof.  They  have  sheep  and  swine  in  such  abundance,  that  they  supply  sagae  and 
salted  pork,  in  plenty,  not  only  to  Rome,  but  to  most  parts  of  Italy.  Their  gov- 
ernments were  for  the  most  part  aristocratic.  Formerly  they  chose  a  governor 
every  year,  and  a  military  leader  was  always  selected  by  the  multitude.  To  their 
simplicity  and  vehemence  the  Gauls  join  much  folly,  arrogance,  and  love  of  orna- 
ment. They  wear  golden  collars  round  their  necks,  and  bracelets  on  their  arms 
and  wrists,  and  those  who  are  of  any  dignity  have  garments  dyed,  and  worked 
with  gold.  This  lightness  of  character  makes  them  intolerable  when  they  con- 
quer, and  throws  them  into  consternation  when  worsted.' — Strabo,  book  iv.  e.  4. 
Among  the  Britons,  as  we  have  seen,  monarchy  or  chieftainship  was  hereditary, 
but  in  nearly  all  other  respects  the  Belgae  and  the  Cantii  were  the  same  people, 

*  Vita  Agric.  xxi,  Gough's  Camden^  i.  141.  Arcficeoloffia,  xv.  184. 
Horsley's  Britannia  JRomana.  Akerman's  Archceoloyical  Index^  44,  45.  There 
are  many  remains  of  British  earthworks  in  Oxfordshire,  and  more  in  Dorset. 
Cyclops  Cliristianus.  In  the  learned  work  with  this  title,  Mr.  Herbert  attempts 
to  show  that  the  stone  structures  above  mentioned  are  the  work  of  Christian 
Britons  after  the  departure  of  the  Romans.  But  his  case  is  by  no  means  made 
out, 

f  In  all  the  Roman  cities  there  were  incorporations  of  operatives  and  arti- 


EEVOLTJTION   IN    SOCIAL   LIFE.  81 

^Yit\l  this  new  taste  and  skill  in  so  many  things,  would   ^^^f^ 
come  new  taste  in  matters  of  furniture  and  ornament.     The  ^  — ^-' 

Pottery. 

useful  and  the  elegant  in  pottery  were  produced  in  great 
quantities  in  many  parts  of  this  island.  Large  traces  of  this 
branch  of  industry,  dating  from  the  time  of  the  Eomans, 
have  been  discovered  in  Kent,  ^Northampton shire,  and  else- 
where. The  terra  cotta  produced  by  the  same  artists,  was 
also  in  a  beautiful  style  of  workmanship.  From  the  abun- 
dance of  such  remains  on  the  sites  of  all  the  Koman  stations, 
and  from  other  evidence,  it  is  clear  that  the  use  of  pottery 
was  much  more  common  among  the  Romans  than  it  is 
among  us.  It  is  no  longer  to  be  doubted  that  ornaments 
from  jet,  or  what  is  now  called  cannel  coal,  were  produced 
in  Roman  Britain,  and  that  our  ancestors  were  familiar  thus 
early  with  much  skilful  workmanship  in  glass. 

We  find  also  that  the  Romans  were  by  no  means  igno-  Mines- 
rant  of  the  mineral  treasures  to  be  found  in  Britain.  They  metais. 
burnt  coals  on  the  banks  of  the  Tyne  and  elsewhere  in  those 
old  days.  They  amassed  large  wealth  by  working  mines 
for  iron,  and  lead,  and  tin,  and  copper ;  and  false  hopes 
were  sometimes  raised  by  their  coming  upon  a  vein  of  sil- 
ver, and  even  upon  gold.  Their  principal  iron  works  were 
in  the  forest  of  Dean  ;  and  in  the  forest  of  Anderida,  now 
the  Weald  country  of  Sussex  and  Kent.  The  Roman  coins 
often  found  in  the  scorise  of  these  deserted  works,  as  well  as 
the  abundance  of  Roman  pottery,  determine  the  date  and 
origin  of  such  works. 

The  Roman  citizen  disposed  to  make  himself  acquainted  Roman 
with  the  island  of  Britain  towards  the  close  of  the  third  cen- 
tury, would  of  course  consult  some  Itinerary  setting  forth 
its  principal  towns  and  roads.     Our  modern  railway-map 
gives  us  something  very  like  the  chart  that  would  be  placed 

ficers,  answering  very  much  to  the  trade  guilds  familiar  to  us  in  the  later  times 
of  British  history  ;  but  these  incorporations  were  known  in  law  by  the  name  of 
'  colleges.'  These  associations  were  intimately  connected  with  religion,  included 
a  principle  of  caste,  and  have  been  variously  described  as  fraternities  and  repub- 
lics. It  is  hardly  surprising,  therefore,  that  they  should  have  been  at  times  pro- 
hibited as  politically  dangerous. — Palgrave,  c.  x.  331-335.  See  Horsley's  £rii. 
Rom.  33*7-342,  for  evidence  showing  that  colleges  of  this  description  were  early 
introduced  into  Roman  Britain.  Du  Cange,  Gloss,  voce  *  Gyntecium.'  Cod. 
Theod.  iii.  lib.  x.  tit.  20. 

Vol.  I.— 6 


CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 


BOOK  I. 
Chap.  5. 


before  him.  The  trunk  lines  of  our  new  iron  roads  go  to  a 
great  extent  along  the  track  of  the  old  military  routes  in 
Eoman  Britain.  The  cities  and  towns  which  form  the 
termini  of  our  main  lines  now,  were  most  of  them  existing 
as  terminating  points  then,  and  their  names  are  only  slightly, 
if  at  all  changed.  It  is  true  the  Eomans  generally  con- 
structed their  roads  in  direct  lines,  crossing  alike  the  hill 
and  the  valley.  Where  such  inequalities  occur  we  now  do 
our  best  to  desert  the  old  pathways.  But  the  greater  part 
of  England  is  comparatively  level  ground.  The  road  from 
Dover  to  London  passed  through  Canterbury  and  Kochester 
in  those  days,  as  in  later  days.  To  leave  London  through 
the  line  of  street  now  known  as  Bishop  sgate,  was  to  enter 
upon  a  road  which  sent  off  its  branches  to  the  Humber  and 
the  Tyne,  the  Mersey  and  the  Solway.  Leaving  London  by 
the  outlet  now  known  as  Ludgate,  a  smooth  and  safe  road 
would  be  found  open  into  Devonshire  or  South  Wales, 
stretching  from  Gloucester  to  Shrewsbury,  and  striking  oiF 
to  St.  George's  Channel.  Between  these  main  lines  were 
many  branch  lines,  covering  the  w^hole  land  wdth  a  busy 
network  of  communication,  connecting  the  greater  cities 
with  the  population  of  the  smaller  towns  and  villages. 
Many  of  these  roads  passed  through  the  dense  forest,  bor- 
dered on  the  stagnant  marsh,  pursued  their  arrowlike  course 
across  the  desolate  moorland,  or  opened  to  the  wayfarer  the 
sight  of  blue  hills  and  rich  valleys,  full  of  beauty,  and  of  the 
signs  of  industry,  wealth,  and  civilization.  At  short  inter- 
vals along  these  roads,  as  on  the  banks  of  so  many  rivers, 
Roman  stations  made  their  appearance,  with  villas,  and 
buildings  of  every  description,  clustered  about  them.* 
Educated  But  the  Romau  villa  supposes  an  advance  in  art  beyond 

man  Bri-  the  barcly  useful.  The  humblest  form  of  handicraft  implies 
a  measure  of  education  and  of  mental  development.  But 
the  social  life  of  the  Romans  embraced  that  intellectual  life 
which  results  from  the  direct  and  indirect  influence  of 
science,  letters,  and  general  taste.  To  what  extent  were 
the  Britons  found  capable  of  appreciating  such  refinements  ? 

*  Horsley's  Britannia  Romana,  book  iii.  Journal  of  tJie  Archceolopical 
Association,  i.  1-9  ;  ii.  42,  86,  164-1G9,  324,  339,  349.  Wellbeloved's  TorA- 
under  the  Romans.     Whitaker's  Manchester.     Moule's  Essay  on  Roman  Villas* 


REVOLUTION   IN   SOCIAL   LIFE.  83 

Tlie  Druids  of  Gaul  and  Britain,  according  to  the  testi-   book  l 
mony  of  nearly  all  our  earlier  authorities  in  relation  to  ^  — '-' 

■I  1  T       1      .  •    •  1      .  .  Close  of 

them,  were  men  who  owed  their  position  to  their  science  P"""'*^  ^^■ 

T      .        /V5  .  fluence. 

and  learning,  even  more  than  to  their  office  as  priests.  They 
are  described  as  being  profound  students  in  physiology, 
botany,  medicine,  and  surgery ;  in  arithmetic,  geometry, 
mechanics,  and  astronomy.  They  are  even  said  to  have  ex- 
celled in  geography.  In  these  descriptions  there  is  no 
doubt  much  exaggeration.  But  it  is  certain  that  the  Druids 
affected  to  be  in  possession  of  extraordinary  knowledge  on 
all  these  subjects  ;  and  that  whatever  they  knew  was  mixed 
up  with  pretensions  to  supernatural  powers,  and  made  to 
subserve  their  priestly  rule.  Their  knowledge,  besides 
being  thus  misapplied,  and  of  necessity  limited,  and  mixed 
with  much  error,  was  always  the  knowledge  of  a  separate 
order  of  men,  if  not  of  a  caste.  It  came  to  the  people,  in 
consequence,  only  indirectly,  and  rarely  as  a  real  advantage. 
So  that  when  the  Romans  swept  away  the  Druids,  and  took 
the  natives  under  their  own  guidance,  they  had  to  com- 
mence the  education  of  their  new  allies,  as  regarded  any 
knowledge  of  letters,  from  the  beginning."^' 

Tacitus  describes  the  course  ffiven  to  the  occupations  and  Thetino 

^  ^  arts — and 

tastes  of  the  Britons  towards  the  close  of  the  first  century,  general 

1  •  1  1  culture. 

To  wean  them  from  tendencies  that  were  ever  disposing 
them  to  acts  of  insubordination  '  Agricola  held  forth  the 
baits  of  pleasure,  encouraging  them,  as  well  by  public  as- 
sistance as  by  warm  exhortations,  to  build  temples,  courts 
of  justice,  and  commodious  dwelling-houses.  He  bestowed 
encomiums  on  such  as  cheerfully  obeyed :  the  slow  and  un- 
complying were  branded  with  reproach  ;  and  thus  a  spirit 
of  emulation  diffused  itself,  operating  like  a  sense  of  duty. 
To  establish  a  plan  of  education,  and  to  give  the  sons  of  the 
leading  chiefs  a  tincture  of  letters,  was  part  of  his  policy. 
By  way  of  encouragement  he  praised  their  talents,  and  al- 
ready saw  them,  by  the  force  of  their  native  genius,  rising 
superior  to  the  attainments  of  the  Gauls.     Tlie  consequence 

*  Strabo,  lib.  ii.  138 ;  iv.  181,  197.  Diod.  Sic.  ii.  47 ;  v.  31  ;  xii.  36. 
Mela,  iii.  2,  12.  Ammian,  Marcel,  xv.  9.  Caesar,  de  Bel.  Gal.  vi.  13,  14. 
Brucker,  Hist.  Fhilos.  i.  314-316.     Rowland's  Ifona,  84. 


84  CELTS   AKD   ROMANS. 

cha?  5.'   ^^^  t^^^  t^^y  who  had  always  disdained  the  Eoman  lan- 
gnsige  began  to  cultivate  its  beauties.'* 

This  scheme  of  education,  to  be  sustained  bj  the  funds 
of  the  State,  and  to  be  controlled  by  that  authority,  was  in 
accordance  with  the  edicts  and  usages  of  the  empire.  Such 
establishments  existed  in  the  principal  cities  of  every  pro- 
vince. The  design  was  to  impart  such  a  spirit  and  com- 
plexion to  the  educated  life  of  every  community  subject  to 
the  sway  of  Rome  as  should  be  favourable  to  that  sway.  In 
such  schools  the  youth  of  Britain  studied  the  language  and 
literature  of  Rome,  and  became  familiar  with  science  and 
art  as  known  at  that  time  to  the  Roman  citizen.  So  pre- 
valent did  the  use  of  the  Latin  language  become,  that  Gil- 
das  speaks  of  the  native  tongue  as  having  become  almost  ob- 
solete. But  this  statement  must  be  received  with  great  lim- 
itation. The  Latin  tongue  never  rooted  itself  among  the 
Britons  as  it  did  among  the  Gauls.  Brittany  was  the  only 
province  in  Romanized  Gaul  that  retained  the  Celtic  tongue  ; 
and  there  it  was  preserved  mainly  through  the  influence  of 
settlers  from  this  country.  Tlie  traces  of  the  Latin  language 
which  survived  in  Britain  after  the  departure  of  the  Ro- 
mans were  small.  In  the  Roman  settlements,  and  in  their 
immediate  neighbourhood,  the  fact  no  doubt  was  as  Gildas 
has  stated.  In  such  districts  the  Latin  was  the  language 
generally  spoken.  In  their  costume,  their  houses,  their 
amusements,  and  even  in  their  religion,  the  British  in  such 
places  almost  ceased  to  be  British.  Of  the  mansions,  the 
villas,  the  porticos,  the  baths,  the  temples,  the  theatres,  and 
other  structures  which  adorned  such  localities,  fragments 
only  remain.  The  long  centuries  of  barbarism  and  violence 
which  followed  were  not  favourable  to  the  preservation  of 
such  monuments.  Yestiges,  however,  from  the  wreck  of 
that  epoch  of  civilization  in  our  history,  may  be  seen  in 
every  museum,  and  are  excavated  almost  daily  from  the 
sites  on  which  it  flourished. 
dSTs^ii  '^^^  reader  who  has  seen  Pompeii,  or  who  has  a  just  con- 

Britain.       ception  of  that  place  from  representation,  may  judge,  with- 

*  Vita  Agric.  xxi. 


BEVOLUTION   IN    SOCIAL   LIFE.  85 

out  tear  of  mistake,  concerning  tlie  appearance  of  tlie  Ro-   book  l 

man  liouses  and  cities  in  Britain.     The  walls  of  the  towns     

were  of  substantial  and  enduring  masonry,  rarely  less  than 
ten  or  twelve  feet  in  thickness,  and  generally  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  feet  in  height.  At  given  distances  they  were 
strengthened  with  round  and  projecting  towers,  and  the 
gates  appear  to  have  been  of  wood,  braced  in  various  ways 
with  iron.  To  a  modem,  the  streets  would  seem  narrow, 
the  houses  diminutive  ;  but  the  entire  space  included  with- 
in the  walls  was  not  great.  Even  the  walls  of  Colchester 
included  little  more  than  a  hundred  acres,  those  of  Kenches- 
ter  about  twenty,  those  of  Lymne  twelve,  those  of  Richbor- 
ough  only  four.  It  is  probable  that  London  itself  did  not 
then  consist  of  more  than  three  or  four  streets  broad  enough 
for  wheels,  those  being  the  streets  which  led  to  the  great 
outlets ;  but  from  which  there  branched  off  numberless 
lanes  and  alleys,  as  paths  only  to  persons  on  horseback, 
or  to  foot-passengers.  This  sense  of  smallness  is  felt,  we 
presume,  by  every  one  who  visits  Pompeii,  unless  prepared 
for  its  inspection  by  more  than  usual  preliminary  study. 
But  if  the  general  scale  of  things  in  one  of  our  Roman  cities 
would  be  deemed  contracted,  the  ornament  in  the  houses  of 
the  wealthy  would  be  regarded  as  profuse,  and  the  conve- 
niences, in  the  way  of  apparatus  for  warming,  for  baths,  and 
the  like,  would  be  accounted  extraordinary,  as  found  within 
such  limits.  You  see  the  floors  covered  with  tesselated 
pavement ;  the  walls  frescoed  with  decorative  paintings. 
The  window-frames  are  filled  with  glass.  The  ceilings  are 
rich  in  colouring,  and  in  elaborated  workmanship.  The 
furniture  is,  for  the  most  part,  elegant  and  ornate.  Alto- 
gether, the  interior  is  such  as  would  be  seen  in  the  houses 
of  the  wealthy  in  Italy,  and  in  Rome  itself.  Of  course  the 
owners  of  such  residences  were  not  often  natives,  nor  always 
Italians.  Such  houses  w^ere  mostly  the  liomes  of  military 
men,  of  government .  functionaries,  and  of  successful  mer- 
chants and  landholders  from  all  parts  of  the  empire. 

One  of  the  most  memorable  seats  of  Roman  opulence  inflaenceof 

•       T->   •      •  i^        1  1  •  TT  1      •      the  Roman 

and  taste  m  iiritam  was  CaerJeon,  on  the  river  U  sk,  in  cities. 
Monmouthshire.     Caerleon  stood  at  a  good  centre  point  in 


86  CELTS  AND  EOMANS. 

ch??  5*  relation  to  the  large  territory  of  the  Silures.  On  that  spot, 
the  bravest  and  the  most  powerful  of  the  British  tribes,  sub- 
dued by  the  sword,  were  to  be  further  subdued  by  the  fas- 
cinations of  art.  According  to  the  descriptions  of  Giraldus 
Cambrensis,  the  Roman  antiquities  on  the  site  of  Caerleon 
even  so  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  must  have  been  of  as 
great  magnitude  as  the  ruins  which  have  marked  the  site  of 
Athens  in  our  own  time.*  What  Caerleon  was  to  the  Si- 
lures  in  the  west,  York  was  to  the  Brigantes,  the  great  na- 
tion of  the  north ;  and  Colchester  and  St.  Albans  stood  in  a 
similar  relation  to  the  Iceni,  and  to  the  other  native  tribes 
of  the  east  and  south.  Between  these  great  points,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  land  was  studded  with  cities  or  stations  ;  all 
of  which  exhibited,  on  a  larger  or  a  smaller  scale,  the  same 
signs  of  civilization  and  wealth. 

"When  Christianity  had  gained  a  place  among  the  Brit- 
ons, a  new  field  was  opened  for  the  development  of  the  tastes 
thus  acquired.  The  learning  of  Pelagius  and  Celestius — 
British  scholars  known  wherever  the  Latin  language  «was 
spoken — was  derived,  we  must  suppose,  from  those  public 
schools  which  the  Romans  had  founded.  In  this  manner 
the  civilization  of  Rome,  no  less  than  its  sword,  was  made 
to  operate  in  favour  of  the  Gospel.  Christianity  commends 
itself  to  intelligence  and  culture.  Wherever  it  is  to  live,  it 
must  either  find  a  soil  of  that  nature,  or  create  it. 
Change  in  Sucli  chansTes  would,  of  course,  affect  the  manners  of  the 

the  manners  07.. 

of  the  Britons.  In  this  respect  they  had  differed  little  from  tribes 
in  the  same  condition.  While  the  greater  part  of  the  island 
was  uncleared  and  undrained,  the  wild  Indian  sort  of  life 

*  Itiner.  Camh.  lib.  i.  c.  5.  Caerleon  is  situated  on  the  right  hand  of  the 
Usk,  which  winds  in  considerable  breadth  and  force  through  a  rich  valley.  Two 
miles  lower  down,  the  river  passes  the  now  prosperous  town  of  Newport,  whence 
it  widens  rapidly,  and  soon  discharges  itself  into  the  Bristol  Channel.  The  land 
as  you  ascend  the  river  to  Newport  is  level,  but  as  you  approach  '  the  City  of  the 
Legion,'  the  valley  is  seen  to  be  enclosed  by  a  crescent  of  beautiful  hills.  The 
loftiest  of  those  hills,  on  the  Glamorganshire  side  of  the  valley,  bears  the  name 
of  Twymbarlwm  (Tymbarlum).  On  that  elevation  there  was  a  strong  Roman 
encampment,  which  could  hold  easy  communication  with  the  powerful  garrison 
on  Campdown,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Channel,  and  indeed  with  the  whole 
extent  of  country  from  the  Malvern  Hills  to  Swansea.  Of  the  antiquities  of 
Caerleon  the  only  indication  now  above  ground  is  a  rich  basin-formed  meadow, 
which  marks  the  site  of  the  old  amphitheatre.  There  is,  however,  in  the  modern 
town,  a  neatly  built  museum,  containing  a  good  collection  of  antiquities  from  the 
ancient  city. 


EEVOLTJTION   IN    SOCIAL  LIFE.  87 

whicli  would  be  natural  to  many  of  the  inhabitants  may  be   ^^  '• 

imagined.     But  the  more  organized  and  settled  communities     

had  certain  usages  and  characteristics  in  common.  An  an- 
cient historian  speaks  of  the  Cornish  Britons  as  being  plain 
and  simple  in  their  manners,  as  wholly  free  from  the  craft 
and  fraudulence  so  commonly  found  among  the  more  civil- 
ized tribes  of  those  times.'^  Tacitus,  speaking  of  the  Brit- 
ons as  the  Komans  had  found  them  down  to  his  time,  says  : 
'  They  are  willing  to  supply  our  armi-es  with  new  levies ; 
they  pay  their  tribute  without  a  murmur ;  and  they  per- 
form all  the  services  of  the  government  with  alacrity,  pro- 
vided they  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  oppression. 
When  injured,  their  resentment  is  quick,  sudden,  and  im- 
patient ;  they  are  conquered,  not  broken-hearted ;  reduced 
to  obedience,  not  subdued  to  slavery.'  f 

Our  rude  ancestors  had,  as  will  be  supposed,  their  sea- 
sons of  festivity,  when  the  song,  the  lyre,  and  the  dance  con- 
tributed to  their  enjoyment.  On  the  occasion  of  a  marriage, 
or  the  successful  issuft  of  a  war,  and  at  given  periods  of  the 
year,  pleasure  in  these  forms  returned.  Considerable  change, 
we  may  be  sure,  came  over  their  usages  in  this  respect  when 
they  fell  under  the  sway  of  the  Romans.  Their  wars  among 
themselves  then  came  to  an  end.  Many  of  them  also  be- 
came Christians,  and  by  such,  pagan  customs  would  be 
wholly,  or  in  great  part,  abandoned. 

Concerning  the  domestic  habits,  and  the  general  morals  ^e'^sritono 
of  the  Britons,  our  opinion  will  be  very  low  if  we  credit  one  ~cSon. 
statement  made  by  Csesar.  According  to  this  historian,  the 
male  members  of  a  family,  however  numerous,  had  their 
wives  in  common,  and  the  children  borne  by  a  wife  passed 
for  the  children  of  her  accredited  husband.:!:  It  may  be 
questioned,  however,  whether  Csesar  had  such  knowledge 
of  the  Britons  as  to  warrant  him  in  making  this  statement. 
He  could  only  have  made  such  a  report  from  hearsay  ;  and 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing  what  that  hearsay  was  really 
worth.  We  doubt  if  it  was  even  partially  true.  The  con- 
clusion may  have  been  a  hasty  inference  from  appearances 

*  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  v.  c.  21. 
•}■  Vita  Agric.  c,  xiii.  \  De  Bel.  Gal,  v.  14. 


88  CELTS   AND   ROMANS. 

cha? 5^  that  should  not  have  been  so  interpreted.  The  evidence 
which  may  be  adduced  as  justifying  scepticism  on  this  point 
is  various  and  considerable. 

It  is  well  known  that  chastity  in  women,  is  in  general 
rigorously  exacted  by  men  in  rude  states  of  society.  Even 
among  barbarians,  there  are  natural  instincts  which  operate 
as  powerful  safeguards  in  such  relations — especially  in  a 
latitude  like  ours.  Tacitus  furnishes  strong  evidence  to  this 
effect  in  his  account  of  the  ancient  Germans.  It  is  Caesar 
himself,  moreover,  who  states  that  the  Britons  differed  in 
scarcely  anything  from  the  Gauls ;  and  among  the  Gauls, 
from  whom  the  Britons  derived  their  blood,  their  language, 
their  religion,  and  their  customs,  no  trace  of  any  such  usage 
is  found.  It  is  certain,  also,  that  women  among  the  Britons 
were  held  in  high  estimation.  They  shared  in  the  honours 
of  priesthood.  The  highest  gifts  pertained  to  them — inspi- 
ration, prophecy,  the  power  of  working  miracles.*  Females, 
when  next  in  succession,  became  sovereigns,  as  we  see  in  the 
case  of  Boadicea.  Should  a  reigning  ^ueen  take  to  herself 
a  husband,  she  did  not  cease  to  be  the  possessor  of  the  su- 
preme power ;  as  we  see  in  the  history  of  Cartismandua, 
the  queen  of  the  Brigantes.  It  was  the  wrong  done  to  the 
chastity  of  the  daughters  of  Boadicea  that  filled  the  cup  of 
indignation  among  the  Britons  to  overflowing.  We  further 
learn  from  Tacitus,  that  it  was  the  scandalous  proceeding  of 
Cartismandua  in  marrying  beneath  her  rank,  that  helped  to 
produce  such  disaffection  among  her  subjects  as  to  compel 
her  to  fly  to  the  Romans  for  protection.  To  these  consid- 
erations, and  more  of  the  same  complexion,  we  have  to  add 
the  material  fact,  that  this  charge  against  the  Britons  rests 
on  the  authority  of  Caesar  alone.f 

*  Pomponius  Mela,  iii,  2, 

f  It  should  be  added,  that  the  literature  of  the  Welsh,  especially  their  eccle- 
siastical literature,  goes  far  back  in  their  history,  and  there  is  not  a  word  in  their 
laws,  their  traditions,  or  any  of  their  writings,  implying  that  any  such  custom 
had  ever  to  be  rooted  out  from  among  them.  Neither  Diodorus  nor  Strabo 
make  any  mention  of  this  alleged  usage,  though  both  were  familiar  with  what 
Cajsar  had  written.  There  is  a  passage,  indeed,  preserved  from  Dion  Cassius, 
who  wrote  more  than  two  centuries  later,  in  which  a  British  female  is  made  to 
say,  in  defence  of  her  countrywomen,  that  they  only  did  openly  with  their 
equals,  Avhat  the  Roman  ladies  did  secretly  with  their  inferiors.  But  this  is  not 
Caesar's  story ;   and  even  this  may  be  more  safely  interpreted  as  an  ingenious 


EEVOLUTION  IN   SOCIAL  LIFE.  89 

Tlie  Britons  of  both  sexes  who  were  in  familiar  inter-   book  l 

.  .  .  CuAP.  6. 

course  with  the  military  officers,  the  civil  functionaries,  and     

the  wealthy  settlers  in  this  country,  could  hardly  have  been 
persons  of  the  manners  which  the  custom  described  by  the 
Roman  general  would  suggest.  The  children  from  the  fami- 
lies of  the  opulent,  whether  Britons  or  Romans,  grew  up 
together  in  the  same  public  schools.  The  parents,  too,  of 
both  classes,  often  shared  in  common  in  the  pomp  and  ban- 
queting which  took  place  in  every  Roman  settlement,  much 
as  in  Rome  itself.  We  can  easily  imagine  that  the  descend- 
ants of  Caractacus  were  wont  to  meet  the  successors  of 
Ostorius  at  the  same  board  in  the  halls  of  Caerleon.  In 
Yerulam,  in  Richborough,  in  Lincoln,  in  York,  times  came 
round  for  such  gatherings.  The  eifect  of  this  intercourse 
on  the  manners  of  the  Britons  is  a  matter  of  history.  They 
did  not  fail  to  appreciate  the  refinements  of  their  conquerors. 
They  were  only  too  willing  to  give  themselves  to  such  pleas- 
ures, and  thus  fell  but  too  readily  into  the  snare  which  had 
been  laid  for  them.  It  is  of  a  comparatively  early  stage  in 
the  revolution  in  taste  and  manners  thus  brought  about 
that  Tacitus  writes  in  the  following  terms  :  '  The  Roman  ap- 
parel was  seen  without  prejudice,  and  the  toga  became  a  fash- 
ionable part  of  dress.  By  degrees  the  charms  of  vice  gained 
admission  to  their  hearts ;  baths,  and  porticos  and  elegant 
banquets  grew  into  vogue  ;  and  the  new  manners,  which,  in 
fact,  served  only  to  sweeten  slavery,  were,  by  the  unsuspect- 
ing Britons,  called  the  arts  of  polished  humanity.'* 

Such  was  the  course  of  change,  for  better  and  for  worse,  summary, 
which  came  upon  social  life  in  Britain  through  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  Romans.  Some  of  the  great  men  who  con- 
quered for  Rome  persuaded  themselves  that  their  con- 
mode  of  rebuking  licentiousness  in  Rome,  than  as  presenting  a  trustworthy  re- 
port of  what  was  really  taking  place  in  Britain.  So  Tacitus  aimed  to  shame  the 
degenerate  Romans,  by  giving  his  own  colouring  to  the  manners  of  the  Germans. 
Xiphiline,  indeed,  attributes  the  usage  imputed  to  the  Britons  by  Caesar,  to  the 
Caledonians  in  the  time  of  Severus ;  but  this  is  mentioned  as  a  feature  of  the 
barbarism  which  distinguished  that  people,  and  so  as  to  imply  that  such  was  not 
the  custom  of  the  Britons  generally.  We  do  not  think,  however,  that  it  was  the 
usage  of  the  ancient  Caledonians  any  more  than  of  the  ancient  Britons.  The 
abbreviator  of  Dion  Cassius  is  not  a  sufficient  authority  on  tliis  point,  taken 
alone. 

*  Vita  Agric.  xxii. 


90  CELTS   AND   EOMANS. 

cha?  5^'   9.^^sts  were  on  the  side  of  humanity  ;  and  some  who  ruled 

in  the  name  of  that  power  believed  that  they  were  ruling  to 

that  end.  But  these  larger  and  purer  purposes  of  the  wise, 
were  sadly  counteracted  by  the  narrow  and  selfish  policy  of 
the  unwise.  The  system,  indeed,  when  once  consolidated, 
remained  the  same.  But  despotic  authority,  under  the 
names,  and  under  some  of  the  forms,  of  liberty,  was  at  its 
centre  ;  and  the  administrations  related  to  that  centre  took 
their  complexion  from  the  character  of  the  man  who  hap- 
pened to  be  enthroned  there.  The  sway  of  virtuous  princes 
secured  comparative  tranquillity  and  happiness  to  more  than 
a  hundred  millions  of  people.  But  such  intervals  of  pros- 
perity were  only  intervals.  With  the  feeble  and  vicious 
ruler  came  the  evils  to  be  expected  from  such  rule.  On  the 
whole,  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Roman  Britain  was  fair 
and  imposing  on  its  surface,  but  hollow  beneath.  Corrup- 
tion in  Rome  never  failed  to  become  the  parent  of  corrup- 
tion in  all  its  dependencies.  The  distinctions  of  rich  and 
poor  obtained  in  some  degree  among  the  Britons  even  in 
their  vanquished  state.  The  arts  of  peace  came  into  the 
place  of  the  calamities  of  war.  But  even  that  change  may 
not  be  a  change  for  the  better.  What  is  gained  in  quiet 
and  comfort,  may  be  gained  at  a  serious  loss  to  virtue  and 
manhood.  By  this  process,  the  fidelity,  the  courage,  and 
the  national  spirit,  which  had  characterized  the  Britons  in 
their  rude  state,  were  all  deeply  impaired.  The  men  of  sub- 
stance were  flattered,  baited  with  pleasure,  and  rendered 
harmless  by  such  means ;  and  while  the  industrious  fur- 
nished the  conqueror  with  a  revenue,  the  adventurous  were 
made  to  replenish  his  armies  in  distant  provinces.  Such 
was  the  general  policy  of  Rome.  Britain  was  used  so  long 
as  it  could  be  used,  and  was  abandoned  when  it  could  be 
used  no  longer.  It  had  been  civilized  into  helplessness,  and 
it  was  then  left  to  its  fate. 
tiumraary.  But  rctribution  followed  in  the  wake  of  this  policy.     In 

the  history  of  the  Roman  power,  an  army  of  mercenaries 
came  by  degrees  to  be  the  only  instrument  by  which  that 
power  could  be  maintained ;  and  so,  as  might  have  been 
foreseen,  the  empire  passed  into  the  hands  of  that  army. 


REVOLUTION   IN    SOCIAL   LIFE.  91 

During  four  centuries  of  comparative  poverty  and  hardship,  book  l 
Eome  had  grown  wonderfully  in  her  capacity  both  for  con-  — '-' 
quest  and  for  government.  During  the  next  three  centuries, 
her  authority  was  gradually  extended  over  the  three  con- 
tinents of  the  known  world.  In  the  centuries  which  follow, 
we  see  everything  once  distinctive  of  republican  Rome  be- 
come common  to  her  world-wide  provinces.  We  see  the 
empire  become  the  possession,  either  by  accident  or  pur- 
chase, of  some  of  the  meanest  and  most  wicked  of  mankind ; 
and  Ave  have  to  look,  for  the  greater  part,  on  enterprise 
without  greatness,  on  splendour  without  reality,  and  on 
tranquillity  which  proves  to  be  the  tranquillity  of  decay. 

There  is  a  majestic  unity,  a  scientiiic  grandeur,  about 
the  Roman  law  and  its  administratibn,  which  is  apt  to  fas- 
cinate the  imagination  of  some  men.  The  fault  we  find 
with  the  Roman  civilization  is,  that  it  gave  the  mind  no 
object  of  public  interest,  and  so  did  nothing  to  ensure  that 
progress  of  thought,  and  that  development  of  moral  feeling, 
on  which  all  true  civilization  must  rest.  In  judging  con- 
cerning civilization,  we  have  to  look  first  to  the  individual 
man,  and  to  the  amount  of  intelligence  and  virtue  possible 
to  him  ;  and  we  have  then  to  look  to  what  society  would  be 
where  all  should  be  thus  enlightened  and  thus  moral.  In  pur- 
suing this  track  of  thought,  the  immediate  effect  must  be, 
to  feel  how  far  the  most  civilized  communities  are  from 
being  really  civilized.  ^N'evertheless,  here  is  the  true  con- 
ception of  civilized  life.  It  is  real,  in  the  measure  in  which 
it  ensures  intelligence  and  virtue  to  society,  by  ensuring  it 
to  the  individuals  of  whom  society  is  composed.  It  presents 
man  at  his  best.  All  social  tendencies  are  good  but  as  they 
work  towards  this  result.  Tried  by  this  test,  the  Roman 
civilization  is  lamentably  wanting.  Over  persons  and  over 
provinces — over  its  great  world,  its  tendencies  were  to  de- 
press thought  to  one  dead  level,  to  shut  in  virtue  to  one  dull 
routine,  to  dwarf  and  deform  humanity  rather  than  to 
elevate  and  perfect  it.  It  told  men  they  were  at  liberty  to 
buy  and  sell,  to  get  gain  and  to  enjoy,  on  any  scale.  If 
more  intellectually  disposed,  they  might  study  antiquities, 
speculate  in  philosophy,  become  artists  or  poets ;  but  they 


y2»  CELTS  AND  KOMANS. 

cn??  5'   ^^^s*  ^ot  presume  to  know  anything  about  state  matters. 

They  must  have  no  country,  no  dreams  about  patriotism  or 

liberty.  They  must  accept  the  imperial  wisdom  as  always 
infallible,  and  never  venture  to  question  any  of  its  proceed- 
ings. All  the  nobler  aspirations  of  their  nature  must  exist 
only  to  be  checked,  subdued,  and  to  produce  that  sense  of 
stifled  nature,  of  heart-sickness,  which  a  generous  man  so 
suffering  can  alone  comprehend.  Nor  was  escape  possible 
except  by  flying  to  the  outposts  of  barbarism,  and  conform- 
ing to  a  life  worse  than  death.  The  sphere  of  this  deadly 
pressure  was  not  that  of  a  nation  only.  It  embraced  the 
world.  It  clutched  its  victims  everywhere.  Overshadowed 
by  such  a  power,  even  the  things  which  were  told  that  they 
might  live,  could  not  Ih/e.  Despotism  is  a  form  of  treason 
against  humanity,  and  it  is  a  law  of  nature  that  humanity 
shall  never  serve  it  with  its  best. 

Modem  civilization  has  no  doubt  derived  some  advan- 
tages from  the  Roman  laws,  especially  from  those  munici- 
pal laws  which  left  to  the  cities  of  the  empire  some  sem- 
blance of  freedom  when  it  had  wholly  disappeared  else- 
where. But  England  owes  really  nothing  to  that  source. 
Our  laws  are  all  from  ourselves.  They  were  born  with  us, 
and  they  have  lived  and  grown  with  us.  From  the  period 
we  have  now  reached,  the  civil  power  of  Rome  ceases  to 
have  any  connexion  with  English  history.  Its  days  are 
numbered.  It  is  soon  to  be  no  more. 
The  Britons  But  the  Britous  in  the  meanwhile  are  not  to  become  ex- 
conqierors!'^  tiuct — are  uot  to  dccay.  Schooled  by  adversity,  and  ele- 
vated by  the  Christian  influences  which  have  taken  root 
among  them,  they  are  to  become  intelligent,  moral,  devout, 
and  are  to  be  a  people  characterized  by  industry,  and  by 
high  comparative  virtue  and  hapniness,  when  some  fourteen 
centuries  shall  have  passed  away.  One  of  the  earliest  of 
those  national  sayings  which  show  the  kind  of  life  this  peo- 
ple were  destined  to  live,  is — '  Esteem  the  man  who  looks 
with  love  on  the  countenance  of  nature,  on  the  works  of 
art,  and  on  the  face  of  the  little  child.'  Tlie  sj)irit  of  reli- 
gion and  of  poetry  remains  with  this  people  ;  and  if  the 
question  be  asked,  What  are  the  qualities  essential  to  the 


EEVOLIJTION   IN   SOCIAL   LIFE.  93 

true  poet  ? — the  answer  from  the  same  remote  past  is  :  '  An   book  l 

...  -  1.1  Chap.  6. 

eye  to  see  what  is  in  nature,  a  heart  to  love  it,  and  courage     

to  follow  it.'  Instruction  in  his  triad  form  is  so  old  among 
the  Britons,  as  to  have  been  known  to  very  ancient  writers, 
both  Latin  and  Greek,  as  the  pages  of  Pomponius  Mela  and 
Diogenes  Laertius  show.* 

It  will  be  proper  to  state  in  this  place,  that  the  effect  of  f^^l^^^^^ 
the  conquest  by  the  Romans,  and  of  the  system  founded  S SrV*"* 
upon  it,  was  of  a  kind  to  leave  very  unequal  traces  of  the  ^'^l^^  *^ 
British  tongue,  and  of  the  British  people,  over  the  surface 
of  the  country.  The  chain  of  mountains  stretching  from 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  into  Derbyshire,  sometimes  called 
the  English  Apennines,  divides  that  portion  of  the  island 
into  two  great  sections.  The  slopes  of  these  mountains  de- 
scend on  the  one  side  towards  St.  George's  Channel,  on  the 
other  towards  the  German  Ocean.  The  eastern  side  of  this 
great  watershed  embraces  the  level  and  rich  lands  between 
the  Humber  and  the  Forth,  and  over  that  space  the  traces 
of  the  past  are  very  conspicuously  Eoman.  But  from  the 
vale  of  Strathclyde,  embracing  a  large  tract  of  land  in 
Dumbartonshire,  from  Cumberland,  the  old  land  of  the 
Cumry,  and  along  to  the  southward  through  Westmoreland, 
Lancashire,  and  the  border  counties  of  Wales,  into  Devon- 
shire and  Cornwall,  the  natives  remain  more  thickly  on  the 

*  Lord  Macaulay,  in  my  humble  judgment,  greatly  underrates  both  the  Brit- 
ish and  the  Saxon  periods  in  our  history.  His  sympathy  with  his  subject  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  begin  until  the  Norman  chivalry  makes  its  appearance  among 
us.  I  select  two  instances  from  a  single  paragraph,  in  illustration  of  the  remark 
which  I  have  felt  bound  to  make. 

His  lordship  says  that  the  inhabitants  of  Britain,  '  when  first  known  to  the 
Tyrian  mariners,  were  little  superior  to  the  natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.' — 
Vol  i,  4.  Our  earliest  knowledge  of  the  Britons  from  Tyrian  sources  describes 
them  as  comparatively  civilized  in  their  manners,  as  fond  of  strangers,  as  indus- 
trious, as  skilful  in  working  mines,  as  wearing  tunics  of  cloth  descending  to  the 
feet,  as  just  in  their  dealings,  and  as  possessing  herds  of  cattle.  (See  p.  1.)  Is 
this  a  picture  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders  as  discovered  by  Captain  Cook  ? 

His  lordship  further  says :  '  Of  the  western  provinces  which  obeyed  the 
Caesars,  she  [Britain]  was  the  last  that  was  conquered  and  the  first  that  was  flung 
away.' — Ibid.  This  may  be  true,  and  the  conclusion  which  the  antithesis  tends 
to  convey  may  be  untrue.  The  remote  and  isolated  position  of  this  country 
made  it  the  most  difficult  to  reach  while  Rome  continued  strong,  and  the  most 
difficult  to  retain  when  Rome  had  become  weak.  Some  rich  provinces  in  the 
east  were  acquired  later,  and  flung  away  sooner. — Gibbon,  vol.  i.  c.  i. 

It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  that  the  value  of  the  most  wonderful  narrative 
this  wonderful  age  has  produced,  should  be  so  often  impaired  by  strokes  of 
rhetoric  of  this  sort. 


94  CELTS   AND  KOMANS. 

Cha?5^'    g^'o^^^^j   ^^^  have  given  the  impress   of  their  language 

■ more  generally  to  the  objects  which  have  survived  them. 

The  great  northern  line  of  road  in  those  days,  was  not  so 
much  on  the  Lancashire  as  on  the  Yorkshire  side  of  the 
Yorkshire  hills,  passing  through  Leicester,  Lincoln,  York, 
and  J^ewcastle.  This  is  one  of  the  facts  concerning  the  dis- 
turbance, and  the  new  distributions  of  race,  consequent  on 
the  settlement  of  the  Romans  in  Britain,  which  contribute  to 
explain  some  later  facts  in  our  history.  The  Eritons  of 
Cumberland  and  Cornwall  were  linked  together  by  the  Si- 
lures,  whose  territories  extended  through  Cheshire  and 
Shropshire  down  to  the  Welsh  side  of  the  Bristol  Channel. 
In  the  western  half  of  the  island,  thus  marked  oif  for  the 
most  part  by  mountains  or  rivers  from  the  eastern  half,  the 
Britons  have  never  been  more  than  partially  displaced. 
Over  this  surface  they  have  been  largely  amalgamated  with 
other  races ;  first  with  the  settlers  who  came  in  with  the 
Romans,  and  afterwards  with  Saxons  and  Danes.  On  the 
more  southern  and  eastern  side  of  the  island,  the  blood 
which  prevailed,  even  in  the  Roman  period,  was  much 
more  the  blood  of  the  stranger,  or  of  a  mixed  race. 


BOOK   II. 

SAXONS  AND  DANES 


CHAPTEE  I. 


SOUECES    OF   AITGLO-SAXON   HISTORY. 

C^S  AR,  the  greatest  of  generals,  and  Tacitus,  the  great-  book  ii. 
est  of  historians,  have  been  our  chief  authorities  in  rela- 

tion  to  Roman  Britain.  More  than  a  hundred  Continental 
writers  belonging  to  the  first  four  or  five  Christian  centuries 
have  supplied  fragments  of  information  concerning  this 
island.  But  many  of  those  references  are  very  brief,  and 
of  small  value.  Our  best  guides,  next  to  Caesar  and  Taci- 
tus, have  been  Diodorus  Siculus,  Strabo,  and  Dion  Cassius. 
Other  lights  have  crossed  our  path  at  intervals,  but  made 
no  stay — and  now  that  we  are  about  to  pass  from  the 
Roman  period  to  what  was  to  follow,  the  twilight  deepens. 

For  our  knowledge  of  Anglo-Saxon  history  we  depend  ^^^^^^^  ^^ 
on  three  sources — on  British  writers  ;  on  the  heathen  poetry  ^a¥on'iiis. 
and  traditions  of  the  north  of  Europe ;  and  on  the  Christian  ^°^y- 
literature  of  the  Saxons  in  Britain  after  they  were  convert- 
ed. 

Welsh  history  is  by  no  means  so  barren  a  theme  as  is  British  aa- 

•^  "^  T    1      thorities. 

commonly  supposed.  But  it  does  not  throw  much  light 
on  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The  work  published 
under  the  title   of  Annals  of  Wales  is   one  of  the  most 


BOOK 
Chap. 


96  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

II-  meagre  productions  imaginable.     Under  some  years  there 

is  no  entry,  and  down  to  1066  the  average  for  each  year 

does  not  exceed  half  a  line.  Tliis  scantiness  may  be  evi- 
dence of  antiquity,  but  it  is  an  antiquity  that  yields  nothing, 
or  next  to  nothing.  The  Chronicle  of  the  Princes  is  fuller, 
more  like  the  Saxon  Chronicle^  but  it  does  not  commence 
before  the  year  681,  and  its  references  to  anything  passing 
beyond  the  Welsh  territory  are  few.  The  Chronicle  of  Ca- 
radoc  is  copied  from  the  above,  with  some  traditionary  mat- 
ter intermixed.*  From  these  last  sources,  and  still  more 
from  what  is  now  known  concerning  the  laws  and  institu- 
tions of  the  Welsh  in  times  before  the  Conquest,  a  much 
more  favorable  conclusion  than  is  generally  adopted  may 
be  arrived  at  in  regard  to  the  civilization  of  that  people. 

It  will  appear,  as  we  proceed,  that  Anglo-Saxon  Britain 
may  be  said  to  have  been  subject  to  the  last,  not  only  to  a 
difference  between  Danish  law  and  Saxon  law,  but  to  three 
distinct  codes  of  law — the  laws  of  Northumbria,  of  Mercia, 
and  of  Wessex  being  in  many  respects  different  from  each 
other.  So  it  was  in  those  days  with  the  Britons.  There 
was  the  Yenedotian  code  for  ]S"orth  "Wales,  the  Dimetian 
code  for  South  Wales,  and  the  Gwent  code  for  the  south- 
east portion  of  that  territory.  The  laws  of  the  Celts  on 
the  western  side  of  the  Severn  and  of  Offa's  Dyke,  had 
much  in  common  ;  but  they  had  also  their  differences,  and 
it  was  thus  w^ith  the  Teutons  on  the  eastern  side  of  that 
line.  Tlie  best  known  of  these  old  British  codes  is  that  of 
Howell  the  Good.  It  may  be  traced  to  the  first  half  of  the 
tenth  century.  But  it  was  itself,  as  may  be  imagined,  a  di- 
gest from  laws  and  usages  much  more  ancient. f 

In  these  ascertained  laws  and  institutions  of  Wales  there 

*  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England.     Folio.     1841. 

f  '  Howell  the  Good,  son  of  Cadell,  prince  of  Cymru,  summoned  to  him  six 
men  from  every  cantrev  (one  hundred  townships)  in  all  Cymru,  to  the  White 
House  on  the  Tav,  in  Dyved,  and  those  of  the  wisest  men  in  his  dominion ;  four 
of  them  laics,  and  two  clerks.  The  cause  for  bringinj:;  the  clerks  was,  lest  the 
laics  should  introduce  what  might  be  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture. 

'  And  they  examined  the  laws :  such  of  them  as  might  be  too  severe  in  punish- 
ment, to  mitigate ;  and  such  as  might  be  too  lenient,  to  render  more  vigorous. 
Some  of  the  laws  they  suffered  to  remain  unaltered  ;  others  they  willed  to  amend ; 
others  they  abrogated  entirely ;  and  they  enacted  some  new  laws.' — Ancient  Laws 
and  Institutes  of  Wales^  book  iii.  c.  i. 


SOURCES   OF  ANGLO-SAXON   HISTORY.  97 

is  mucli  to  interest  the  historical  student.     He  will  possibly  book  il 

1  .  1  ^  IT  Chap.  1. 

be  surprised  to  see  how  a  people  accounted  so  rude  contriv-     

ed  to  place  restrictions  on  the  royal  power,  to  distinguish 
between  the  legislative  and  executive  functions  of  a  state, 
and  to  leave  as  little  as  possible  in  the  administration  of 
law  to  the  discretion  of  the  magistrate.  J^ot  less  unexpect- 
ed, perhaps,  will  be  the  evidence  of  the  care  taken  to  deter- 
mine the  limits  between  governing  and  governed ;  to  define 
the  duties  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and 
servant ;  to  classify  offences  ;  to  settle  principles  of  evidence, 
and  to  adjust  penalties  to  offences  ;  to  ensure  a  sober  main- 
tenance to  the  ministers  of  religion  ;  to  encourage  com- 
merce ;  and  to  confer  honour  on  gifted,  learned,  and  scien- 
tific men.* 

All  these  seeds  of  civilization  were  in  their  course  of  de- 
velopment among  the  Britons,  from  the  times  when  the 
greater  number  of  them  retreated  westward.  But  many  did 
not  so  retreat,  and  Anglo-Saxon  history  was  to  be  affected 
considerably  by  these  facts.  Tlie  British  writers,  however, 
to  whom  we  owe  most  in  relation  to  English  history,  are 
Gildas,  Nennius,  Asser,  and,  ^VG  suppose  we  must  add, 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth. 

There  were  three  writers  of  the  name  of  Gildas,  who  Hildas. 
were  contemporaries,  or  nearly  so.  Tlie  author  of  the  his- 
torical work  under  that  name  was  a  monk  of  Bandon,  in 
I^orth  Wales.  He  appears  to  have  become  thoroughly  Eo- 
manized  in  his  tastes,  and  to  have  brought  a  very  bad  tem- 
per to  the  work  of  disparaging  all,  whether  Britons,  Scots, 
or  Saxons,  who  were  not  of  that  party.  Tliis  ammus  is  so 
manifest,  that  some  have  doubted  if  he  was  really  a  Briton. 
His  prejudices  in  this  respect  have  led  him  to  make  state- 
ments which  are  known  to  be  false  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  his  colouring  generally  is  greatly  exaggerated.  Of 
course  these  facts  are  to  be  borne  in  mind  in  any  use  that  is 
made  of  Gildas.* 

Becent  criticism   has  shown  that  the  work  which  has  Nenmua. 
been  so  long  attributed  to  J^ennius,  was  probably  written 

*  Ancient  Laws  mid  Institutes  of  Wales,  book  iii.  c.  I. 
f  Britannic  Researches,  by  the  Rev,  Beale  Poste,  165-180. 
Vol.  I.— 7 


98 


SAXONS  AND  DANES. 


^caS.  ?'  ^y  ^  Briton  named  Marcus,  who  became  a  bishop  in  Ireland. 
The  work  is  now  assigned  to  the  year  822,  and  the  great 
object  of  the  writer  is  said  to  have  been,  to  do  honour  to  the 
memory  of  St.  Germanus  and  St.  Patrick.  Nennius  edited, 
or  republished,  the  work  about  forty  years  later,  and  it  has 
since  borne  his  name.  Many  parts  of  this  production  con- 
sist of  worthless  traditions  ;  but  there  is  a  vein  of  truth  in 
it  that  may  be  separated  to  the  purposes  of  history.*  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  old  Welsh  bards  Aneurin,  and  Ta- 
liesin,  and  of  the  Chronicle  by  Tysilio — of  which  more  pre- 
sently. 
sc  ndina-  ^^^  poctry  of  Scaudiuavia  makes  us  acquainted  with 

Ind°t?rdi*-'^  the  Saxon  and  the  Dane  along  those  stormy  creeks  and  bays 
tion.  from  which  they  launched  forth  as  sea-kings  some  ten  or 

twelve  centuries  since.  It  is  well  to  know  what  those  chil- 
dren of  Odin  were  before  the  education  of  time  and  circum- 
stances had  given  their  descendants  their  great  w^ork  to  do 
in  this  island.  The  J^dda,  and  the  Song  of  Zodhrok,  have 
their  uses  in  this  way.  One  of  the  first  lessons  of  Provi- 
dence to  this  seaman  race  was  to  give  them  a  settled  home, 
and  to  make  them  Christians  ;  and,  that  done,  we  find  them 
abstaining,  with  singular  simplicity  and  sincerity,  from  all 
mention  of  what  they  had  been  as  pagans.  In  that  respect, 
the  past  with  them  was  in  a  memorable  degree  the  past. 
It  is  only  as  Christians  that  they  become  historians,  and 
then  a  considerable  space  had  intervened  since  their  land- 
ing as  freebooters  on  the  shores  of  Britain.  The  space, 
however,  between  those  events,  was  not  such  as  to  allow 
tradition  to  become  uncertain  concerning  the  one  or  the 
other.  The  north  had  been  to  them  a  region  of  myth  and 
fable.  In  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  there  was  no  growth  of  that 
description.  The  imagination  became  otherwise  occupied. 
Christian  superstitions  came  into  the  place  of  pagan  fictions. 
But  it  is  not  difiicult  to  distinguish  between  the  supersti- 
tions, and  the  genuine  history  with  which  they  are  connected. f 

*  See  the  edition  of  this  writer  published  by  the  Irish  Archaeological  Society, 
and  edited  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Todd  and  the  Hon.  Algernon  Herbert.  Dublin. 
1848. 

f  Mallet's  Northern  Antiquities. 


S0UK0E8   OF  ANGLO-SAXON"  HI8T0EY.  99 

When  the  venerable  Bede  wrote  his  Ecclesiastical  His-  book  il 
tory^  more  than  two  centuries  had  passed  since  the  landing  — '- 
of  Hengist  and  Horsa  ;  something  more  than  a  century  had  ^*^on 
intervened  since  the  founding  of  the  last  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  b«<i«- 
kingdoms  ;  and  about  a  century  since  the  conversion  of 
Ethelbert  by  the  preaching  of  Augustine.  Bede  was  not 
so  far  removed,  therefore,  from  the  great  events  in  the  early 
history  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  to  be  incapable  of  giving  us 
a  report  of  those  entitled  to  credit.  His  history  was,  in 
fact,  so  full,  so  trustworthy,  and  so  extraordinary  a  perform- 
ance, as  produced  in  such  circumstances,  that  the  sources 
from  which  it  was  derived  were  in  a  singular  degree  super- 
seded by  it  ;  and  the  very  success  of  this  narrative,  appears 
to  have  been  fatal  to  the  preservation  of  much  of  the  mate- 
rial on  which  it  was  based.  We  learn,  however,  from  Bede 
himself,  that  this  material  existed,  and  whence  it  was  ob- 
tained. He  questioned  all  persons  likely  to  furnish  him 
with  credible  intelligence.  He  obtained  assistance,  he  tells 
us,  from  abbots,  bishops,  and  archbishops,  and  even  from 
the  archives  of  Rome.  What  could  be  done  in  this  way  he 
did,  and  no  man  could  acquit  himself  with  more  conscien- 
tious integrity  in  his  labour.  His  belief  in  miracles  was 
the  weakness  of  his  age,  and  does  not  in  the  least  detract 
from  his  credibility.  His  history  was  not  his  only  work, 
but  this  description  applies  to  all  he  has  written.*  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  his  account  of  affairs  in  Wessex  is  so  limit- 
ed ;  but  in  those  days  this  was  a  natural  consequence  of  a 
residence  so  far  north  as  Bishopswearmouth.  This  defi- 
ciency is  in  part  supplied  by  the  next  great  authority  on  this 
period — the  Saxon  Chronicle. 

Several  manuscripts  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  are  extant,  Saxon^ 
more  or  less  complete,  and  differing  more  or  less  from  each 
other.  Each  of  these  manuscripts  has  had  one  transcriber 
until  the  date  comes  to  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, the  transcripts  being  made  probably  from  some  earlier 
source,  or  sources,  now  lost.  The  later  entries  are  by  dif- 
ferent hands,  and  mostly,  it  would  seem,  by  contemporaries. 

*  Monumenta  Historica  Britannica,  ubi  supra. 


100 


SAXONS  AND  DANES. 


Ancient 
laws  of 
England. 


^cSl?.  i!*  S<^^e  suppose  that  we  owe  the  transcriptions  of  the  earlier 
portions  to  the  patriotism  of  Alfred  ;  but  on  that  point  we 
have  no  certainty.  All  are  agreed  in  their  estimate  of  the 
general  accuracy  and  great  value  of  this  record.  It  begins 
with  the  Eoman  invasion,  and  in  several  manuscripts  de- 
scends to  some  time  below  the  Conquest.  In  the  early  part 
it  contains  j)assages  from  Bede  and  other  sources.  In  its 
later  portions  the  information  is  often  less  full  than  might 
have  been  expected.  Its  language  is  Saxon,  mostly  in  the 
dialect  of  "Wessex,  sometimes  in  that  of  Mercia.  In  its  later 
years  the  continuations  are  sometimes  in  Latin.'^ 

The  volume  published  by  our  Record  Commissioners  in 
1840,,  intitled.  The  A7icient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England, 
stands  as  our  next  authority.  This  volume  is  of  great  value. 
It  contains  the  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings  from  Ethel- 
bert  to  Canute,  the  laws  of  the  Conqueror,  those  called  the 
laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  those  ascribed  to  Hemy 
I.  It  also  contains  a  large  body  of  ecclesiastical  law,  aiford- 
ing  frequent  glimpses  into  the  religious  and  social  life  of 
the  time.  "With  this  publication  we  must  class  the  Domes- 
Domesday  clay  Booh,  with  the  valuable  ^  Introduction  '  by  Sir  Henry 
Ellis  ;  also  the  collection  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  charters  edit- 
ed by  Mr.  Kemble.f 

The  sources  of  information  which  remain  are  more  frag- 
mentary, consisting  mostly  of  poetry  and  the  lives  of  saints. 
Alfred  and  his  age  have  a  literary  prominence,  partly  from 
the  genius  and  writings  of  the  king,  arid  partly  from  the 
writings  of  Asser,  a  Welsh  ecclesiastic,  whom  Alfred  at- 
tached as  a  scholar  to  his  person  and  household. 

Eeaders  who  observe  tlie  authors  cited  by  our  popular 
historians  in  connexion  with  Anglo-Saxon  history,  will  be- 
aware  that  many  of  those  authorities  do  not  belong  to 
Anglo-Saxon  times,  but  to  times  considerably  after  the  Con- 
quest. It  will  be  seen  also  that  they  are  commonly  and 
silently  adduced,  as  if  their  testimony  were  of  the  first  order 
and  decisive.     But  does  the  case  really  so  stand  ?     Among 


Book— 

Charters. 


Anglo-Nor- 
man autho- 
rities. 


*  Monumenta  Jlistorica  Britannica^  ubi  supra. 
England,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.     Preface. 

\  Codex  Diplomaticus  jEvi  Saxonici. 


The  Church  Histories  of 


SOURCES   OF  ANGLO-SAXON   HISTORY.  101 

tlie  writers  of  this  class  we  may  mention  Florence  of  Wor-  book  ii 
cester,  Simeon  of  Durham,  Henry  of  Ilnntingdon,  and  Eoger  — -' 
of  Hoveden,  Alured  of  Beverley,  and  Ingulf  of  Croyland. 

The  work  which  bears  the  name  of  Florence  is  derived  Florence, 
mainly  from  Bede,  Asser,  the  Saxon  Chronicle^  and  a  His- 
tory of  Ely.  Florence  died  in  a.d.  1118,  and  his  work 
closes  with  that  year.  The  Saxon  language  was  familiar  to 
him,  and  the  manuscripts  from  which  he  copied  are  said  to 
have  been  good.  It  is  not,  however,  until  this  writer  ap- 
proaches his  own  time  that  his  material  becomes  important. 
Simeon  of  Durham's  Chronicle  extends  from  the  year  848  g^^J^**' 
to  1129.  It  is  taken  almost  wholly  and  literally  from  Flor- 
ence. It  contains  some  things,  however,  relating  to  the 
north,  not  to  be  found  elsewhere ;  and  more  of  the  same 
material  will  be  found  in  the  History  of  the  Kings  of  Eng- 
land, and  in  the  History  of  Durham^  by  the  same  author. 
Huntingdon's  narrative  extends  from  the  landing  of  Julius 
Cassar  to  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  On  the  his-  Hunting- 
tory  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  Henry  availed  himself  of  the  best 
known  sources ;  and  of  some,  both  Welsh  and  English, 
which  seem  to  have  perished.  He  is  full  in  his  account  of 
battles,  and  his  narrative  evinces  a  more  free  and  manly 
spirit  than  is  common  with  writers  of  his  order.  Hoveden  Hoveden. 
lived  to  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  His  work 
is  much  cited  by  historians ;  but  it  is  a  transcript,  almost  , 

from  beginning  to  end,  either  of  Simeon  of  Durham,  or  of 
Henry  of  Huntingdon.  Alured  of  Beverley  is  a  writer  of  Aiured. 
the  same  description.  His  work  consists  of  little  more  than 
transcriptions  from  Bede,  Simeon  of  Durham,  Florence  of 
Worcester,  and  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  But  the  work  in 
this  series  which  suggests  the  greatest  caution  in  the  use  of 
these  authorities  is  that  attributed  to  Ingulf.  Until  with-  inguif. 
in  the  last  thirty  years,  this  work  has  been  freely  cited  as  a 
sufficient  authority  on  the  wide  range  of  historical  represen- 
tation contained  in  it.  By  the  most  competent  judges,  and 
on  evidence  only  too  manifest,  its  historical  value  has  been 
shown  to  be  very  small.^     Its  errors  and  anachronisms, 

*  Dr.  Hickes  exposed  the  fictions  to  be  found  in  this  work,  a  century  and  a 


102 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  1. 


Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth. 


Tysilio. 


Westmin- 
ster. 


Malmes- 
bury. 


Authority 
of  Anglo- 
Norman 
writers. 


while  professing  to  be  an  autobiography,  are  such  as  to  cast 
a  strong  suspicion  over  the  portions  of  true  history  that  are 
to  be  found  in  it.  The  continuation  by  Peter  of  Blois  is 
entitled  to  more  credit,  but  that  is  another  work. 

The  historical  romance  by  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  is 
little  more  than  a  rendering  into  Latin  of  the  pretended 
Chronicle  by  the  British  writer  Tysilio.  We  may  believe 
Geoffrey  when  he  tells  us  that  he  received  the  manuscript 
on  which  his  work  was  founded,  from  Armorica ;  but  it 
seems  no  less  clear  that  the  work  was  that  attributed  to 
Tysilio,  who  was  a  Briton,  and  lived  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eleventh  century.*  Neither  production  is  of  much 
value  in  regard  to  history,  though  both  are  objects  of  inter- 
est as  relating  to  the  literature  of  fhe  times  in  which  they 
were  produced.  The  Chronicle  attributed  to  Matthew  of 
Westminster  contains  some  information  relating  to  early 
Saxon  and  British  affairs  not  found  in  other  writers,  and 
which  may  have  been  derived  from  trustworthy  sources  no 
longer  existing.  But  as  the  sources  are  not  mentioned,  such 
passages  are  of  no  gi-eat  authority.  William  of  Malmes- 
bury  belongs  to  a  limited  class  of  writers,  who,  in  the  elev- 
enth and  twelfth  centuries  aimed  at  something  above  com- 
pilation, a,nd  took  the  classical  historians  as  their  model. 
The  imitation,  as  will  be  supposed,  was  not  always  in  good 
taste.     But  Malmesbury  is  a  valuable  guide. 

The  above  instances  will  suffice  to  show  the  measure  of 
authority  which  belongs  to  Anglo-E'orman  writers  in  regard 
to  Anglo-Saxon  history.  We  should  add,  also,  that  in  the 
men  who  write  upon  our  history  after  the  Conquest,  a  bias 
is  often  perceptible,  disposing  them  greatly  to  underrate  the 
Saxon  nationality.  Modern  writers  have  not  always  been 
sufficiently  on  their  guard  against  this  influence,  nor  always 
sufficiently  mindful  of  the  fact,  that  in  relation  to  British 
and  Anglo-Saxon  history,  these  writers  can  never  be  more 
than  second-hand  authorities.     The  question,  in  regard  to 


half  ago.     Proefatio  in  Thcsaur.  Ling.  Vett.   p.  xxix.  ed.  Oxon.  1703.     See  also 
Quarterly  Review,  xxxiv.  248,  et  seq.,  by  Sir  Francis  Palgrave.     Lappenberg,  vol. 
i.  pp.  li.  lii.     Monumenia  Ilistorica  Britannica. 
*  Poste's  Britannic  Researches. 


SOrECES   OF  ANGLO-SAXON   HISTORY.  103 

most  of  them  is,  not  what  have  they  said  concerning  times  book  il 
so  long  anterior  to  their  own,  but  what  authority  have  they  — - 
had  for  what  they  say  ?  It  is  not  enough  that  a  modern 
historian  professes  to  restrict  himself  to  original  authorities. 
Two  things  more  are  necessary — the  intelligence  that  can 
estimate  those  authorities  at  their  proper  value,  and  the  in- 
tegrity which  shall  ensure  that  an  honest  use  is  made  of 
them. 


CHAPTER   11. 


THE     MIGRATION. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  2. 

Britain  on 
the  depar- 
ture of  the 
Eomans. 


The  Picts 
and  Scots. 


ON  the  departure  of  the  Romans,  authority  seems  to  have 
passed  very  much  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman  settlers, 
and  partly  into  the  hands  of  the  more  able  men  among  the 
Britons,  or  of  such  as  claimed  descent  from  the  native 
princes.  Tlie  usages  found  among  the  Britons  of  a  later  age, 
and  which  no  doubt  obtained  among  them  even  at  this 
early  period,  were  both  monarchical  and  popular.  Govern- 
ment was  everywhere  by  kingship,  and  everywhere  by 
popular  assemblies.  The  obligation  imposed  on  the  tything 
and  the  hundred  by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  had  been  long  before 
imposed  by  the  Britons  on  kindred.  The  men  responsible 
for  each  man's  good  conduct,  were  not  men  of  the  same 
neighbourhood,  but  men  of  the  same  blood."^  How  much  of 
this  usage  was  tolerated  under  the  Romans  is  not  known, 
but  it  became  general  when  the  Britons  were  left  to  them- 
selves. The  British  code  of  penalties  was,  in' common  with 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  very  much  a  code  of  fines  and  compen- 
sations, wherever  compensation  was  possible.  But  organ- 
izations of  this  nature  had  been  too  much  disturbed  by  the 
Romans  to  be  soon  restored  and  settled.  An  interval  also 
was  to  pass  in  which  feud  was  to  do  its  usual  mischief. 

The  great  difiiculty  of  the  Romans  during  the  last  two 
centuries  of  their  rule  in  Britain,  came  from  the  frequent  in- 
cursions of  the  Caledonians,  who  were  in  possession  of  the 
country  north  of  the  wall  of  Antoninus.  These  Caledonii 
of  the  Romans  appear  to  have  received  a  large  accession  of 


*  Laws  of  Howell  the  Oood^  book  iii.  chap.  i. 


THE  MIGRATION.  105 

settlers  in  those  days  from  Ireland ;  and  with  this  migration  book  it. 
came  the  names  of  Scots  and  Picts.  After  the  opening  of  — - ' 
the  fourth  century  the  whole  people  north  of  the  Tyne  are 
often  so  designated.  Tliose  tribes  or  clans  knew  nothing  of 
the  civilization  which  the  Romans  had  introduced  among 
the  people  of  the  south ;  or  knew  it  only  to  despise  it  as 
effeminate,  and  as  the  badge  of  servitude.  They  did  noth- 
ing in  the  way  of  ploughing  or  sowing.  It  was  their  pleas- 
ure to  roam  about  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  what 
they  did  not  secure  as  wandering  herdsmen,  they  obtained 
by  hunting,  or  by  levying  contributions  on  their  weaker 
neighbours.  Gildas  describes  them  as  diifering  in  some  de- 
gree from  each  other  in  manners,  but  as  influenced  by  the 
same  thirst  for  blood,  and  as  being  more  disposed  to  shroud 
their  '  villanous  faces  '  in  bushy  hair,  than  to  cover  their 
persons  with  decent  clothing.*  The  name  Pict  comes  from 
their  own  language,  and  could  hardly  have  been  used  to  de- 
note the  stained  or  pictured  appearance  of  their  bodies. 

When  these  troublesome  neighbours  heard  of  the  de-  Eepuised  by 
parture  of  the  Romans,  they  soon  began  to  make  incursions 
southward.  The  resistance  they  met  with  was  at  first  more 
formidable  than  they  had  expected.  Many  who  had  served 
in  the  Roman  army,  both  natives  and  settlers,  resumed  their 
weapons.  Profiting  by  such  leadership,  the  Britons  repel- 
led the  invaders.  But  the  enemy  learned  wisdom  from  disas- 
ter. They  came  in  greater  numbers,  and  with  better  organ- 
ization. 

The  Britons  began  to  be  much  discouraged.  They  sent  Assistance 
delegates  to  seek  assistance  from  the  Romans.  The  Empe-  the  eo- 
ror  Honorius  despatched  a  legion  from  Gaul  to  their  help  ; 
the  Romans  chased  the  Scots  back  to  their  forests  and  fast- 
nesses; but  this  force  did  not  remain  in  the  island.f  In 
the  year  423  the  Britons  were  again  petitioners  for  help, 
and  in  426  another  legion  appeared  among  them,  led  by  Gal- 
lio  Ravennas,  a  general  who  not  only  inflicted  signal  chas- 
tisement on  the  Scots,  but  spared  no  pains  to  put  the  Brit- 
ons in  the  way-  of  defending  themselves  for  the  future.     By 

*  Hist.  §  19.     Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  2. 

f  Gildas,  Hist.  §  16.     Bede,  Eccles.  Hist,  lib  i.  c.  12.     Nennius,  §  30. 


106 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  2. 


Final  de- 
parture of 
the  Ro- 
mans. 


Picture  of 
Britain  by 
Gildas. 


his  advice  they  relinquished  the  wall  of  Antoninus,  and  with 
it  the  whole  of  the  country  between  N^ewcastle  and  Edin- 
burgh. He  superintended  the  repairs  of  the  wall  of  Seve- 
rus,  and  urged  the  Britons  to  guard  it  well,  as  their  most 
natural  boundary  northward.  He  warned  them,  moreover, 
that  the  Scots  were  not  their  only  enemies.  He  assured 
them  that  they  had  fully  as  much  to  fear  from  the  Frank 
and  the  Saxon ;  and  before  leaving  them,  he  gave  them  his 
assistance  in  raising  fortresses,  and  many  places  of  observa- 
tion, along  the  southern  coast.     This  was  in  427.* 

Eight  years  later  a  great  battle  was  fought  between  the 
Scots  and  the  Britons  of  the  north.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
the  most  formidable  encounter  that  had  ever  taken  place 
between  the  two  races.  Its  issue  was  disastrous  to  the  Brit- 
ons. In  446  they  seem  to  have  made  an  effort  to  throw  off 
the  yoke  which  had  been  thus  imposed  on  them,  but  with- 
out effect.  It  was  by  this  section  of  the  Britons,  and  in  these 
circumstances,  that  the  letter  preserved  in  Gildas,  entitled 
'The  groans  of  the  Britons,'  appears  to  have  been  written. 
It  is  addressed  to  Etius,  the  Homan  governor  in  Gaul.  It 
has  been  accepted  by  modern  historians  as  genuine,  and  no 
document  has  done  so  much  towards  producing  an  unfavour- 
able impression  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  Britons  gen- 
erally at  this  juncture.  But  in  our  estimate  of  this  people 
it  becomes  us  to  look  to  their  history  as  a  whole,  and  to 
look  well  to  the  quarter  where  the  blame  of  much  that  may 
seem  blameworthy  should  be  laid.  It  had  been  so  long  the 
policy  of  the  Romans  to  deprive  the  Britons  of  all  native 
leadership,  that  we  scarcely  need  wonder  if,  when  liberty 
was  given  them  to  avail  themselves  of  such  aid,  it  had  ceas- 
ed to  exist. 

Great  was  the  change  which  had  come  over  the  country- 
men of  Caractacus  during  the  last  four  hundred  years — the 


men 


who,  in  their  time,  had  known  how  to  chase  before 


them,  not  only  whole  cohorts,  but  even  legions  of  their  op- 
pressors. Great,  too,  was  the  change  which  had  come  over 
the  affairs  of  South  Britain  within  a  quarter  of  a  century 


Bede,  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  12.     Gildas,  Hist  §§  17,  18. 


THE   MIGRATION.  107 

after  the  iinal  departure  of  the  Romans.  Gildas  wrote  some-  book  il 
thing  more  than  a  century  later  ;  and,  though  we  take  his  -^^ 
descriptions  with  great  deduction,  it  is  hardly  to  be  doubt- 
ed that' the  safety  of  life  and  property  ceased  for  a  time 
through  a  large  portion  of  the  island.  Lands  which  had 
been  wont  to  yield  abundant  harvests  lay  tin  cultivated.  Til- 
lages and  towns  were  to  a  large  extent  deserted  and  in  ruins. 
Such  of  the  Britons  as  opposed  themselves  to  the  Scots  rare- 
ly did  so  in  the  open  field,  but  waylaid  them  in  the  forests 
and  passes.  The  monuments  of  Roman  art  were  everywhere 
mutilated,  or  allowed  to  go  to  decay.  Famine  and  disease 
came  in  the  train  of  these  disorders.  It  is  difficult,  how- 
ever, to  say  to  how  much  of  the  country  this  description 
would  apply,  or  how  long  it  continued.  We  know  that  in 
the  fifth  century,  when  a  formidable  invasion  by  the  Scots 
was  said  to  be  in  preparation,  the  Britons  of  the  south  and 
west  had  their  kings.  Yortigern  was  then  king  o-ver  the 
people  bordering  on  the  Thames,  and  the  Britons  who  dis- 
puted the  entrance  of  Scot  and  Saxon  for  the  next  hundred 
years,  did  so  under  kings  as  leaders,  and  did  so  with  no  lit- 
tle courage  and  perseverance.  To  this  interval  belong  all 
the  chivalrous  narratives  concerning  Aurelius,  TJther  Fen- 
dragon,  and  King  Arthur. 

The  King  Yortigern  mentioned,  is  the  chief  who  has  be-  The 

come  so  memorable  in  our  historv  from  his  invitation  to  ^^^' 

t/ 

the  Saxons  to  become  his  auxiliaries  in  resisting  the  Scots. 
The  first  niention  of  the  Saxons  in  history  is  by  Ptolemy  the ' 
geographer.  Ptolemy  makes  them  to  be  of  Scythian  de- 
scent. They  were  manifestly  a  branch  of  the  great  Teu- 
tonic family,  and  included  tribes  under  various  names  be- 
sides those  properly  known  as  Saxons.  About  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  the  Saxons  were  in  possession  of  that 
part  of  the  shore  of  the  modern  duchy  of  Holstein  which 
lies  between  the  mouths  of  the  Eyder  and  the  Jibe.  Tlie 
Baltic  side  of  the  duchy,  which  still  bears  the  name  of  An- 
glen,  was  the  country  of  the  Angles  ;  and  the  home  of  the 
Jutes — the  Jutland-men — stretched  indefinitely  northward. 
Two  centuries  later  these  tribes,  under  the  general  name  of 
Saxons,  had  spread  their  conquests  so  far  south  as  to  be 


108  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 

BOOK  II.  found  over  the  whole  space  between  the  Ejder  and  the 
— '-'  Khine.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century,  the  time  now 
under  review,  their  territory  embraced  the  whole  country 
along  the  coast  of  the  German  Ocean,  including  both  "West 
and  East  Friesland,  Holland,  and  Zealand,  besides  Westpha- 
lia and  Saxony,  and  countries  further  north."^ 

The  part  of  those  regions  in  which  the  Saxons  are  first 
known,  was  fringed  with  the  most  intricate  shores,  embra- 
cing many  inlets  and  islands.  Everywhere  they  were  ex- 
posed to  the  infiuences  of  northern  cold  and  tempest.  Every- 
thing there  seemed  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  training  a 
hardy  race  to  maritime  adventure.  The  Saxons  became 
all  that  a  map  would  suggest  as  probable  in  the  history  of 
rude  tribes  so  placed.  Steady  industry  they  despised. 
Their  great  trust  was  in  their  swords.  Plunder  by  sea  or 
by  land  was  their  chief  vocation.  Band  after  band,  as  they 
subdued  districts,  settled  in  them,  compelling  the  vanquish- 
ed to  do  their  husbandry,  while  they  went  forth  themselves 
from  season  to  sQason  in  search  of  new  adventure  and  new 
spoil.  Every  man  had  his  chief,  to  whom  he  promised  fidel- 
ity ;  and  when  an  enterprise  embraced  several  chiefs,  one 
was  invested  with  supreme  command  for  the  occasion. 
They  used  the  bow,  the  spear,  the  sword,  the  battle-axe,  and 
a  club  with  spikes  projecting  from  a  knob  at  the  end,  and 
sometimes  called  the  '  hammer.'  The  last  three  of  these  wea- 
pons were  of  great  length  and  weight.  But  the  men  of  the 
Saxon  race  were  generally  above  the  middle  stature,  power- 
fully built,  and  could  make  these  implements  fall  with  ter- 
rible effect  upon  an  enemy.  Tliey  wore  helmets,  the  metal 
of  which  descended  on  either  side  of  the  head  to  the  ears, 
and  sometimes  sent  a  line  of  protection  down  the  centre  of 
the  forehead.  All  the  more  exposed  parts  of  their  persons 
were  guarded  in  like  manner. 
Saxons  of  Of  coursc  tliis  dcscription  applies  to  the  Saxons  of  the 

century.      fifth  ccutury  ;  in  their  earlier  adventures  there  was  little  of 
this  martial  presence  about  them.     In  those  early  days  their 

*  Ptol.  Geoff,  ii.  c.  2.  Eutrop.  ix.  Steph.  Byzant.  voc.  Sazones.  Orosius, 
lib.  i.  §  I.  Ad  Bremen,  cox.  Bade,  JSccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  15 ;  lib.  v.  c.  ii. 
Cluver.  Ant.  Oerm.  iii.  06  et  seq.     Chron.  Sax.  an.  449. 


THE   MIGRATION.  109 

boats  or  vessels  were  mostly  of  lath  and  oisier  work,  overlaid  ^pOK  n. 
with  skins.  But  in  the  time  of  Yortigern  the  chiule  of  the  ' — '- 
Saxon  pirate  vied  with  the  Eoman  galley  in  strength  and 
spaciousness.  So  armed,  and  with  such  vessels,  the  Saxon 
sea-kings,  as  they  were  called,  became  the  teiTor  of  their 
time,  especially  along  the  coasts  of  Gaul  and  Britain.  Be- 
fore Saxon  Britain  was  heard  of,  Britain,  Belgium,  and 
Gaul  had  their  Saxon  shore — coast  lands,  so  called  in  conse- 
quence of  their  exposure  to  attacks  from  this  formidable 
enemy.  In  the  fifth  century,  their  numbers,  their  skill,  their 
audacity,  and  their  cruelty,  had  combined  to  make  them  the 
most  dreaded  foe  of  civilization  north  of  the  Rhine.  Con- 
stantino the  Great,  Theodosius,  and  Stilicho,  had  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  attempts  to  check  the  incur- 
sions of  these  assailants.  But  as  the  strength  of  the  empire 
declined,  the  boldness  of  these  enemies  increased.  In  fact, 
they  made  rapid  progress  in  the  art  of  war  by  means  of  the 
encounters  with  civilized  and  disciplined  foes  to  which  they 
were  from  time  to  time  committed.  Tlie  event  to  be  de- 
sired was,  that  their  successes  should  open  to  them  induce- 
ments to  relinquish  a  mode  of  life  so  pregnant  with  evil  to 
themselves  and  to  humanity.  The  qualities  conspicuous  in 
them  were  such  as  to  ensure  their  eminent  success  in  the 
race  of  civilization  should  circumstances  arise  to  dispose 
them  to  such  pursuits. 

Our  Saxon  authorities  relate,  that  in  the  year  447  or  449,  Hen^rist 
Yortigern,  a  British  king  near  the  Thames,  invited  two  Sax-  — saxon 
on  chiefs,  named  Hengist  and  Horsa,  to  assist  him  in  repel- 
ling an  invasion  by  the  Picts  and  Scots ;  that  these  chiefs, 
who  were  brothers,  landed  in  Tlianet,  a  portion  of  Kent,  sep- 
arated from  the  mainland  of  that  district  by  a  river ;  that 
the  Saxons  soon  chased  the  Scots  from  the  lands  they  had 
devastated ;  that  with  the  consent  of  Yortigern,  the  Saxon 
force  in  Thanet  was  increased  considerably ;  that  this  in- 
crease caused  distrust  among  the  Britons  ;  that  the  increase 
of  pay  thus  made  necessary  led  to  disputes  ;  that  these  dis- 
putes issued  in  open  war ;  that  after  a  long  series  of  con- 
flicts, victory  declared  in  favour  of  the  Saxons ;  that  Hen- 
gist  became  king  of  Kent,  and  in  the  year  488  bequeathed 


110  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cS5  "■  ^^^  authority  to  his  son  J^sca,  having  exercised  it  fifteen 
years. 

Account  ^^^  British  authorities  say  that  Hengist  and  Horsa  were 

exiles  in  search  of  a  home  ;  that  the  increase  of  the  force  in 
Thanet  was  treacherously  managed  ;  that  the  design  of  that 
movement  was  to  conquer  the  country  ;  that  Hengist  had  a 
beautiful  daughter  named  Kowena,  who,  when  the  Saxon 
and  British  chiefs  were  over  their  cups,  was  employed  to 
present  a  goblet  to  Yortigem  ;  that  Yortigern  fell  into  the 
snare  thus  laid  for  him,  by  becoming  enamoured  of  Row- 
ena,  so  as  to  be  prepared  to  barter  the  kingdom  of  Kent  as 
the  price  of  possessing  her  person ;  that  in  the  wars  which 
ensued,  Yortigern  was  disowned  by  his  subjects,  and  his 
son  Yortimer  raised  to  sovereignty  in  his  stead ;  that  for 
several  years  Hengist  was  compelled  to  seek  refuge  in  his 
ships,  and  to  subsist  by  his  piracies ;  that  at  a  feast  after- 
wards given  by  the  Saxon  leaders,  some  three  hundred  Brit- 
ish chiefs  were  treacherously  murdered ;  that  the  only  one 
of  the  British  chiefs  who  was  spared  was  Yortigern ;  and 
that j_  notwithstanding  the  alleged  unpopularity  of  this  prince, 
to  secure  the  liberation  of  Yortigern,  the  people  of  Kent, 
Sussex,  Middlesex,  and  Essex  consented  to  receive  Hengist 
as  their  king.* 

Estimate  of        The  discr-cpancics  between  these  two  accounts  are  such 

counts.  as  we  might  expect  from  sources  so  distinct  and  so  hostile. 
But  there  is  a  substance  of  statement  common  to  them  both, 
sufiicient  to  show  that  Hengist  and  Horsa  are  hi-storical  per- 
sons,, and  that  the  commonly  understood  facts  of  their  lives 
may  be  received  as  history.  To  attempt  to  reduce  them  to 
mythic  personages,  and  to  conclude  that  we  really  know 
nothing  of  the  matter,  would  be  to  follow  a  fashion  in  criti- 
cism, and  to  underrate  the  lights  of  the  past.  It  is  very 
probable  that  Hengist  and  Horsa  were  chiefs  in  search  of 
a  home,  and  that  their  policy  from  the  first  was  to  find  a 
home  in  this  country,  either  by  stipulation  or  the  sword. 
But  the  story  concerning  the  slaughter  of  the  British  chiefs 
comes  from  IN'ennius.     Had  it  been  a  fact,  Gildas  could  not 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist  lib.  1.  c.  15.     Chron.  Sax.  ad  ann.  449  et  seq.  •  Gil- 
das, Hist.  §§  23-26.     Nennius,  §§  SI,  36-38,  43-45. 


THE  MIGRATION.  Ill 

have  been  ignorant  of  it,  and  would  not  have  failed  to  give  ^^  ^^ 

it  prominence.     An  account  of  the  conquests  of  the  Saxons     

in  Thuringia  contains  a  similar  fiction. 

Horsa  fell  in  an  early  encounter  with  the  Britons.     Hen-  Eiae  of  the 

,  .  T  T  1  1  Saxon  Oc- 

gist,  as  the  Saxon  authorities  relate,  did  not  become  sover-  tarchy. 
eign  of  Kent  before  the  year  4Y3 — more  than  twenty  years 
after  his  first  compact  with  Yortigern.  The  British  accounts 
indicate  that  the  resistance  made  was  thus  obstinate,  and  in 
part  successful ;  and  the  space  intervening  between  the  rise 
of  this  first  state  of  the  Saxon  Octarchy,  and  the  rise  of  the 
last,  is  a  century  and  a  half.  Sussex,  the  kingdom  of  the 
South  Saxons,  was  the  second  state  established.  It  was 
founded  by  Ella  in  496.  Tliis  was  the  smallest  state  of  the 
Octarchy.  The  state  of  the  West  Saxons,  which  dates  from 
the  year  519,  was  of  much  greater  extent,  embracing  Sur- 
rey, Berks,  Dorset,  Somerset,  and  Devon,  with  parts  of 
Hampshire  and  Cornwall.  The  founder  of  this  sovereignty 
was  Cerdic.  East  Anglia  included  l^orfolk,  Suffolk,  Cam- 
bridge, the  Isle  of  Ely,  and  part  of  Bedfordshire,  and  was  es- 
tablished by  Uffa  in  the  year  540.  Erkenwen  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  state  of  the  East  Saxon«,  which  comprehended 
Essex,  Middlesex,  and  a  southern  district  of  Hertfordshire. 
This  kingdom  commences  with  the  year  542.  The  kingdom 
of  Bernicia  was  established  by  Ida  in  548,  under  whom  the 
Angles  possessed  themselves  of  Northumberland,  and  of 
the  northern  parts  of  Westmoreland  and  Cumberland,  with 
the  part  of  Scotland  between  ^N'ewcastle  and  Edinburgh. 
The  kingdom  of  Deira  embraced  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire, 
with  the  southern  divisions  of  Westmoreland  and  Cumber- 
land. While  this  kingdom  continued  separate  the  Saxon 
states  in  Britain  were  an  Octarchy ;  its  union  with  IS'orth- 
umbria,  which  was  the  case  for  the  most  part,  reduced  them 
to  a  Heptarchy.  We  have  seen  that  the  kingdom  of  the 
South  Saxons  was  founded  by  a  chief  named  Ella  ;  and  it 
was  a  chief  of  that  name  who  founded  the  kingdom  of  Dei- 
ra, about  sixty  years  later.  Mercia,  the  last  of  the  Saxon 
kingdoms,  does  not  make  its  appearance  before  the  year 
586  ;  but  it  was,  in  regard  to  extent  of  territory,  the  most 
considerable  state  in  the  Octarchy,  comprehending  all  the 


112 


SAXONS  A2n)  DANES. 


Course  of 
the  Saxon 
conquests. 


British  re- 
sistance. 


"cha?  ?'  midland  counties,  and  forming  for  centuries  the  great  bar- 
rier  kingdom  between  the  Saxons  and  the  Welsh.* 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  sketch  that  the  conquest  of  the 
Saxons  followed  the  same  track  that  had  been  taken  by  the 
Romans.  From  the  coast  of  Kent  the  invaders  gradually 
spread  themselves  southward,  northward,  and  westward — 
the  country  of  Caractacus,  which  was  the  last  to  submit  to 
the  Romans,  being  the  last  to  submit  to  the  Saxons.  Where 
the  Romans  had  been  most  ascendant,  the  Saxons  gained 
their  earliest  and  their  easiest  victories.  In  this  manner  did 
the  portion  of  our  isla^nd  known  by  the  name  of  England 
pass  into  the  hands  of  the  people  from  whom  it  derived  that 
name. 

During  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  Britons  continued 
to  measure  weapons  wdth  the  Saxons  in  defence  of  this  soil ; 
a  fact  sufficient  to  warrant  distrust  of  the  pictures  given  of 
this  people  by  Gildas.  Tlie  chivalrous  performances  assign- 
ed to  this  period  of  British  history  by  British  tradition  and 
romance  may  be  entitled  to  little  credit.  But  fictions  so 
impassioned  and  so  permanent  imply  facts — the  mythic  Ar- 
thur supposes  a  real  one.  The  conception  of  an  age  of  he- 
roes can  have  no  place  with  a  people  w^ho  are  not  them- 
selves heroic.  It  is  unfortunate  indeed,  for  the  fame  of 
those  supposed  heroes,  that  writers  so  near  their  time  as 
Bede  and  Gildas  should  seem  to  have  heard  so  little  about 
them.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  writings  of  the  ancient 
bards,  Aneurin  and  Taliesin,  and  those  of  Nennius,  of  Tysi- 
lio,  and  of  Geofi'rey  of  Monmouth,  point  to  the  channel 
through  which  the  faith  of  a  people  in  regard  to  that  heroic 
age  has  descended.  We  have  no  great  confidence  in  what 
these  writers  record  as  facts,  but  there  is  an  historical  signi- 
ficance in  the  spirit  which  pervades  their  productions.  Tlie 
renowned  Arthur  is  not  an  Armorican,  but  strictly  a  British 
hero.  Tlie  conception  of  him  has  come  to  us  from  a  people 
whose  descendants  are  still  living  about  us. 

We  have  now  seen  that  the  forty  years  between  the  de- 
parture of  the  Romans  and  the  coming  in  of  the  Saxons 
were,  for  the  most  part,  years  of  retrogression  in  British 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist,  passim.     Chron.  Sax.  ad  ann.  449-588. 


Summary. 


THE    MIGRATION.  113 

history.  Even  then,  the  season  of  inquietude  and  disaster  book  il 
had  not  come  to  an  end.  The  ravages  of  the  Saxons  were  — - 
tO'follow  those  of  the  Picts  and  Scots ;  and  though  the  Sax- 
on was  a  less  barbarous  antagonist  than  the  Scot,  his  wars 
seemed  for  a  time  to  have  completed  what  his  precursor  had 
done  only  in  part.  The  sea-king  from  the  Elbe  has  come 
into  the  place  of  the  prefect  of  the  Tiber,  and  the  general 
change  is  such  as  this  change  of  names  will  suggest.  Yerj 
memorable  in  English  history  is  this  Second  Revolution  by 
the  Sword. 

Vol.  I.— 8 


CHAPTER  HI. 

EISE    OF   THE   ENGLISH   MOI^ARCHY EGBERT. 

^caS  ¥'  T^-^^-^  "^'^^'s  ^^  ^'^^^  communities  possess  so  mucli  in  com- 
An^i^  mon,  as  to  be  entitled  to  small  consideration  from  the 

-Sr^e-^  historian.  But  there  are  instances  in  which  such  narratives 
hfsw'*  may  have  their  place  among  the  valuable  materials  of  his- 
tory. Such  events  may  illustrate  the  character  of  a  people, 
and  may  have  influenced  their  local  settlements.  They  may 
have  contributed  in  this  way  to  the  development  of  the 
modification  of  the  languages,  the  institutions,  and  the 
usages  of  races.  In  all  these  respects  the  war-history  of 
Anglo-Saxon  Britain  was  influential,  and  merits  a  degree 
of  attention  on  this  account  that  would  not  otherwise  be 
due  to  it. 

The  wars  of  the  Saxons  during  the  first  three  centuries 
after  their  settlement  in  Britain,  were  wars  carried  on  in 
part  with  the  natives,  and  in  part  with  each  other.  Every 
state  was  won  by  the  sword,  and  kept  only  by  the  sword. 
Tlie  dangers  of  each  state  in  its  earlier  history,  came  from  the 
partially  vanquished  Britons  ;  in  its  later  history,  from  the 
rivalries  which  grew  up  between  the  new  sovereignties 
when  established.  It  must  suffice  to  touch  on  the  outline 
of  this  subject,  and  especially  on  such  points  as  indicate  a 
tendency  to  substitute  unity  for  partition — to  give  existence 
to  a  central  and  consolidated  sovereignty. 
Native  re-  During  more  than  twenty  years  Ilengist  and  his  fol- 

lowers were  engaged  in  frequent  and  deadly  hostilities  with 
the  Britons.  Not  imtil  the  close  of  that  interval  can  the 
kingdom  of  Kent  be  said  to  have  been  established.  Ayles- 
ford,  Cray  ford,  and  Wippendsfleet  are  places  in  that  coim- 


sistance. 


EISE  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY EGBERT.  115 

ty  which  became  memorable  in  the  history  of  this  struggle.*  book  il 
Ella,  and  his  three  sons,  who  established  the  neighbour  — - 
kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons,  met  with  a  resistance  no  less 
resolute  and  protracted.  The  great  forest  of  Andreds-lea 
was  long  an  asylum  to  the  Britons  in  their  reverses.  Cerdic, 
the  founder  of  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons,  which  em- 
braced a  much  larger  territory  than  either  of  the  states 
above  mentioned,  was  engaged  in  hot  wars  with  the  Britons 
over  the  west  of  England,  from  495  to  519.  Tlius  slow 
and  costly  was  the  progress  of  the  Saxon  chiefs  generally, 
in  giving  existence  to  the  several  states  of  the  Hep- 
tarchy, f 

But  it  does  not  appear  that  any  one  of  the  branches  of  intention  of 
the  great  German  family  who  thus  sought  a  new  home  in  in  their  de- 
Britain,  did  so  with  the  intention  of  continuing  the  piratical  Britain. 
and  marauding  life  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  in 
their  own  country.     With  the  possession  of  a  richer  soil, 
arid  under  the  influence  of  a  more  genial  climate,  they 
were  prepared  to  turn  their  thoughts  towards  the  arts  of 
peace,  and  towards  the  means  necessary  to  give  security  to 
their  acquisitions  and  their  power. 

The  lanaruaffe  of  Bede  and  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  is  ex-  office  of 

1/.  T.  1^  ^-1       Bretwalda. 

plicit  as  to  the  fact  that  during  the  lirst  century  of  the 
Heptarchy,  one  of  its  princes  generally  possessed  a  prece- 
dence of  the  rest,  under  the  title  of  the  Bretwalda,  or  the 
'  wielder.'  Some  seven,  indeed  nine,  princes  are  named,  as 
having  sustained  this  dignity.  But  there  were  intervals  in 
w^hich  the  authority  of  the  prince  claiming  that  precedence 
was  not  more  than  partially  acknowledged.  Indeed,  during 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  it  ceased  to  exist ;  and  the 
real  power  of  the  Bretwalda  at  any  time  was  so  limited  and 
undefined,  that  it  is  impossible  now  to  say  in  what  it  con- 
sisted. In  its  existence,  however,  we  see  evidence  that  the 
existence  of  some  such  authority  was  felt  to  be  highly  ex- 
pedient, if  not  necessary  ;  and  it  gives  us  the  embryo  of  the 
power  which  was  at  length  to  centre  in  a  single  person  as 
monarch  of  all  England. :j: 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  449-488.     Chron.  Ethelwerd,  c.  i.     Bede,  Hist.  c.  15. 

f   Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  477-519,     Ethelwerd,  c.  i. 

:J:  Bede,  Hist.  ii.  5.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  827.     Ethelwerd,  iii.  c.  2. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  8. 


116  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

Disputes  concerning  this  precedence  gave  rise  to  tlie 
first  war  of  one  Anglo-Saxon  state  upon  another.  Ella  of 
Sussex,  from  some  unknown  cause,  was  the  first  Britwalda. 
On  his  decease,  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  then  only  sixteen  years 
of  age,  laid  claim  to  that  rank.  But  his  competitor  was 
Ceawlin,  the  powerful  King  of  "Wessex,  who  humbled  him 
in  battle.  Ceawlin  gained  repeated  victories  over  the  Brit- 
ons, united  the  territory  of  the  South  Saxons  to  that  of  the 
West  Saxons,  and  survived  as  Bretwalda  to  the  year  593. 
On  the  death  of  Ceawlin,  the  disputed  title  was  conferred 
on  Ethelbert,  who  retained  it  to  the  year  616.  But  it  did 
not  pass  into  the  hands  of  his  son.  Eedwald,  King  of  the 
East  Angles,  was  its  next  possessor.  No  power  had  ever 
been  so  formidable  to  the  Picts  and  Scots  as  E'orthumbria 
became  about  this  time ;  and  the  terror  with  which  the 
severities  of  the  settlers  in  those  northern  provinces  had 
filled  their  freebooting  neighbours  lasted  for  several  genera- 
tions. Edwin  of  Northumbria  became  Bretwalda  in  627  ; 
and  was  the  most  potent  among  the  princes  who  had  hitherto 
borne  that  title.  ]^ot  only  the  Saxon,  but  the  British  kings, 
are  said  to  have  acknowledged  his  sovereignty,  so  far  as 
to  pay  him  tribute  ;  and  his  own  dominions,  besides  includ- 
ing the  united  kingdoms  of  Bernicia  and  Deira,  extended 
so  far  as  to  include  the  Isle  of  Anglesea  and  the  Isle  of 
Man. 

But  Mercia  became  jealous  of  K^orthumbria.  In  633, 
Penda  of  Mercia,  and  Ceadwalla  of  E'orth  Wales,  combined 
their  forces  against  that  kingdom.  In  a  battle  at  Hatfield, 
in  Yorkshire,  Edwin,  and  one  of  his  sons,  were  slain  ;  an- 
other son  was  murdered  when  the  battle  had  ceased.  Such 
members  of  the  family  of  Edwin  as  survived  sought  refuge 
with  their  relative  then  ruling  in  Kent.  The  victors  over- 
ran the  prostrate  country,  pillaging  without  limit,  and  de- 
stroying without  mercy,  the  Christian  Welsh,  exceeding,  it 
is  said,  in  their  atrocities,  the  pagan  Mercians.  But  Oswald, 
a  nephew  of  Edwin,  at  length  avenged  the  fate  of  his  kin- 
dred ;  and,  under  his  powerful  sway,  the  two  northern  king- 
doms were  once  more  united.  Oswald  was  the  sixth  Bret- 
walda ;  but  his  reign  was  short.     In  the  eighth  year  of  his 


EI8E  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONAECHT — ^EGBERT.  117 

sovereignty  he,  too,  was  defeated  by  tlie  Mercians  under  ^^^^  "• 

Penda.     Oswald  was  succeeded,  both  as  king  of  Northum-     

bria,  and  as  Bretwalda,  by  his  brother,  Oswy,  who  strength- 
ened his  claim  to  the  throne  by  marrying  his  cousin,  the 
daughter  of  Edwin.  Through  the  next  twenty-eight  years 
— years  of  storm  and  change — the  sceptre  of  ISTorthumbria 
was  wielded  by  a  strong  hand.  Eut  Oswy  was  the  last 
Bretwalda.     He  died  in  670.* 

It  thus  appears  that  the  office  of  Bretwalda  was  recog-  I'^r^^'^^  "^ 
nized,  more  or  less,  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  during  nearly  J^^^"^^^'''' 
two  centuries — from  the  death  of  Hengist,  in  488,  to  the  Ji,""ne^.^^ 
death  of  Oswy,  in  670.  The  office  had  come  into  existence  ^^^^y- 
from  a  sense  of  common  danger  and  of  common  interest ; 
and  it  owed  its  continuance  to  the  feeling  in  which  it  had 
originated.  This  danger  was  apprehended  as  likely  to  come 
from  the  Britons  in  the  west,  from  the  Scots  in  the  north, 
and  from  the  unsettled  hordes  on  the  other  side  the  German 
Ocean.  But  the  idea  of  combination  against  these  foes  was 
more  an  idea  than  a  reality.  Experience  had  shown  this  ; 
and  the  function  of  Bretwalda  appears  to  have  ceased  as  it 
became  manifest  that  the  uses  of  it  were  imaginary.  But 
so  long  as  a  Bretwalda  was  acknowledged,  there  was  the 
probability  that  a  powerful  chief,  under  that  title,  would 
some  day  become  king  of  Anglo-Saxon  Britain.  From  the 
manner  in  which  the  Saxons  became  possessed  of  the  coun- 
try, it  was  natural  that  it  should  be  parcelled  out  into  a 
number  of  separate  and  comparatively  small  sovereignties. 
Eut  there  was  nothing  in  the  surface  of  the  country  to 
favour  the  perpetuity  of  the  state  of  things  so  originated. 
Greece,  by  the  intersections  of  its  seas  and  mountains,  ap- 
peared to  be  mapped  out  by  the  hand  of  Providence  to  be- 
come the  home  of  a  number  of  small  and  independent 
states.  ITot  so  that  part  of  Britain  which  has  since  become 
known  as  Engand.  The  fastnesses  of  Wales,  and  the  York- 
shire and  Grampian  Hills,  might  long  present  impediments 
in  the  way  of  a  great  national  unity.  But  over  the  remain- 
ing portion  of  the  island  the  lines  of  separation  between 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  488-670.     Ethelwerd,  lib.  i.  ii.     Bede,  Hist  ii.  5. 


118  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^(S!a?.  s!*  territory  and  territory  svere  so  faint,  that  the  necessary 
alternative  was,  between  a  state  of  ahnost  perpetual  feud, 
and  the  concentration  of  the  several  states  into  one  by  some 
leader  powerful  enough  to  realize  such  a  change.  But  the 
office  of  Bretwalda  is  perpetuated  through  nearly  two  cen- 
turies, and  no  one  of  the  princes  sustaining  it  becomes  thus 
potent.  And  now  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  intervene 
between  the  death  of  the  last  Bretwalda  and  the  accession 
of  Egbert,  sometimes  described  as  the  first  king  of  England  ; 
and  two  centuries  and  a  half  are  to  pass  before  the  accession 
of  Athelstan,  the  first  Anglo-Saxon  king  really  entitled  to 
that  description. 
Ascendency  The  liistory  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  during  something  more 
iimbria,       than  the  first  half  of  the  next  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  is 

Mercia,  and  »/   "^  ' 

Wessex.  mainly  the  history  of  the  three  principal  states — ^Is'orthum- 
bria,  Mercia,  and  Wessex.  These  states,  as  seen  on  the 
map,  form  a  crescent,  one  point  of  the  curve  taking  its  start 
from  the  part  of  Scotland  bounded  by  Glasgow  and  Edin- 
burgh, and  the  other  point  terminating  in  Cornwall.  In  the 
hollow  of  this  crescent  lies  the  home  of  the  Welsh  ;  beyond 
the  outer  line  of  it,  and  stretching  toward  the  English  Chan- 
nel and  the  German  Ocean,  lay  the  kingdom  of  the  East 
Saxons,  Sussex,  Kent,  and  East  Anglia.  An  intelligent 
conception  of  this  period  in  English  history  is  not  possible 
without  keeping  these  facts  in  mind. 

Northum-  Duriug  the  hundred  and  thirty  years  between  the  death 

of  Oswy,'the  last  Bretwalda,  and  the  accession  of  Egbert  to 
the  throne  of  Wessex,  the  sceptre  of  l^Torthumbria  passed 
into  new  hands  upon  the  average  every  seven  or  ten  years. 
Of  these  princes,  the  one-half  perished  in  the  constantly 
recurring  wars  of  the  period  ;  and  the  other  half,  with  only 
one  or  two  exceptions,  were  despatched  or  dethroned  by 
their  own  subjects.  These  facts  suggest  much  in  regard  to 
the  disorder  and  crime  prevalent  among  that  people.  But 
the  reality  in  this  case  was  such  as  hardly  to  be  reached  by 
the  imagination. 

Egfrid,  who  succeeded  Oswy  his  father,  compelled  both 
the  Scots  and  the  Mercians  to  respect  his  territory.  But 
his  wars  were  incessant — now  with  the  Mercians,  now  with 


EISE  OF   THE   ENGLISH  MONARCHY — EGBEET.  119 

the  Irish,  and  now  with  the  Scots.    In  an  expedition  against  ^<^ok  ii. 

the  latter  he  was  beset  in  the  passes  of  the  country,  and     

experienced  a  signal  defeat.  His  own  body  was  among  the 
slain.  Few  of  his  followers  escaped.  An  army  sent  against 
the  Scots  by  Aldfrid,  his  successor,  shared  the  same  fate. 
The  reign  of  Aldfrid,  '  the  learned,'  was  comparatively 
peaceful.  But  on  his  decease,  the  history  of  l^orthumbria 
becomes  such  a  calendar  of  enormities  that  we  feel  no  dis- 
position to  dwell  upon  it.  Kindred  struggled  against 
kindred  for  the  possession  of  the  supreme  power  :  the  prize 
seized  at  the  cost  of  perfidy  and  blood  to-day,  was  snatched 
away  by  hands  as  little  scrupulous  to-morrow ;  and  men 
who  had  hoped  to  brave  the  storm  in  which  so  many  had 
perished,  were  glad  to  escape  from  the  fury  everywhere 
abroad,  by  seeking  admission  to  a  convent,  as  affording 
them  their  only  chance  of  security  and  repose.  Charle- 
magne denounced  these  Northumbrians  as  '  a  perverse  and 
perfidious  nation,  worse  than  pagans.'  * 

Mercia,  we  have  seen,  was  the  middle  kingdom,  between  power  of 
Northumbria  on  the  one  hand,  and  "VVessex  on  the  other. 
"With  a  powerful  rival  on  either  side,  and  with  such  bad 
neighbours  as  the  Welsh  along  its  whole  western  border,  it 
seemed  necessary  to  its  independence  that  it  should  be  the 
strongest  kingdom  of  the  three.  But  the  comparative  power 
of  these  states  depended  on  power  in  their  kings  ;  and  each 
oscillated  accordingly,  as  their  monarchs  happened  to  be 
men  of  capacity,  or  devoid  of  it. 

Oswy  of  E"orthumbria  acquired  a  partial  ascendency 
over  Mercia.  But  before  his  decease  in  6Y0,  the  Mercians 
asserted  their  independence  and  something  more.  In  661 
Wulphere,  the  son  of  Penda,  who  then  ruled  in  Mercia, 
overran.  Wessex,  and  attached  portions  of  its  territory  to  his 
own.  But  Wulphere  died  in  675,  and  before  his  death 
Egfurth  of  l^orthumbria  had  again  turned  the  scale  in  favour 
of  the  northern  kingdom.  Ethelred,  who  reigned  over 
Mercia  the  next  thirty  years,  sustained  its  independence 
and  reputation.     Little  need  be  said  of  the  two  immediate 

*  Bede,  Hist  iii.  14-2Y  ;  iv.  26  ;  v.  23.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  617-800.    Malms. 
de  Reg. 


120  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

^crS  "■  successors   of  Ethelred — Caenred  and  Ceolred.     The   first 

retired  to  a  monastery  after  a  reign  of  five  years.     The 

second  shortened  his  days  by  licentiousness.  Their  conjoint 
reigns  numbered  twelve  years,  and  these  appear  to  have 
been  years  of  quiet  to  their  subjects. 

Ethelbald,  the  next  king  of  Mercia,  reigned  from  716  to 
757.  He  was  a  man  of  dissolute  habits  through  the  greater 
portion  of  his  life.  But  he  was  also  a  man  of  capacity,  both  in 
council  and  in  the  field.  For  a  time,  not  only  the  lesser 
states  of  the  Heptarchy,  but  even  "Wessex  acknowdged  his 
authority. 

But  in  752  the  "West  Saxons  cast  off  the  yoke  which 
Ethelbald  had  imposed  on  them.  In  a  memorable  battle  at 
Burford  in  Oxfordshire,  the  Mercians  were  not  only  defeated, 
but  the  panic  which  seized  the  army  was  attributed  to  a 
want  of  courage  in  their  l\ing.  A  few  years  later  Ethelbald 
was  succeeded  by  the  celebrated  Offa. 

Rise  of  oflfa.  The  first  fourteen  years  in  the  reign  of  Offa  w^ere  spent 
in  quelling  disaffection  among  his  own  subjects.  Subse- 
quently he  waged  successful  wars  against  Kent,  and  Wes- 
sex,  and  the  Britons.  To  guard  his  territory  against  the 
incursions  of  the  latter  enemy,  he  constructed  a  trench  and 
embankment,  known  in  after  times  as  '  Offa's  dyke.'  This 
work  parted  off  the  border  territory  of  the  Welsh  from 
that  of  the  Mercians,  over  the  whole  line  of  country  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  Chester  to  the  lower  banks  of  the 
Severn. 

Offa  and  Tlirough  the    influence    of    the    Anglo-Saxon    scholar 

magne.  Alcuiu,  a  Correspondence  took  place  between  Offa  and 
Charlemagne.  The  king  of  the  Franks  performed  the  office 
of  mediator  between  Offa  and  certain  Mercian  thanes  who 
had  become  exiles  in  France  as  the  consequence  of  having 
committed  themselves  against  the  authority  of  Offa  in  the 
early  period  of  his  reign.  "We  learn  also  that  Charlemagne 
felt  aggrieved  by  some  fiscal  irregularities  attributed  to  cer- 
tain Mercian  manufacturers  who  imported  wollen  goods  into 
France.  On  these  matters  the  result  of  the  communications 
between  the  two  kings  was  satisfactory.  But  not  so  on 
matters  of  another  kind.     Charles  requested  the  hand  of  a 


RISE  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY EGBERT.  121 

daughter  of  Offa  for  one  of  his  illegitimate  sons.     Offa,  in  ^^^^  ^ 

return,  requested  the  hand  of  a  French  princess  for  his  eldest     

son  Egfurth.  But  this  presumption,  as  it  was  deemed, 
offended  the  pride  of  the  Frank,  and  the  correspondence 
between  the  two  kings  came  to  an  end. 

The  hand  of  the  princess  which  Charlemagne  had  soli-  ^^^^^^^^ 
cited  for  his  son  was  afterwards  sought  by  Ethelbert,  king 
of  East  Anglia.  Ethelbert  was  young  and  accomplished,  and 
possessed  of  many  estimable  qualities.  Approaching  the 
borders  of  Mercia,  the  young  king  despatched  a  messenger 
with  presents,  and  with  a  letter,  stating  the  object  of  his 
errand.  In  reply,  assurance  was  given  of  a  cordial  wel- 
come ;  and  on  his  arrival,  himself  and  his  retinue  were  re- 
ceived with  every  apparent  demonstration  of  respect  and 
good  feeling.  As  the  advance  of  the  evening  brought  the 
feasting  and  merry-making  to  a  close,  Ethelbert  withdrew 
to  his  chamber.  Presently  a  messenger  sought  access  to 
him,  and  stated  that  the  king  wished  to  confer  with  him 
on  some  matters  affecting  the  purpose  of  his  visit.  Ethel- 
bert at  once  followed  the  footsteps  of  his  guide.  But  the 
way  led  through  a  dark  narrow  passage,  and  there,  from 
invisible  hands,  the  confiding  youth  received  a  number  of 
wounds  which  at  once  deprived  him  of  life.  Offa  affected 
surprise,  indignation,  the  deepest  grief;  he  w^ould  see  no 
one,  and  so  on.  But  history  points  to  his  wife  as  having 
suggested  this  atrocious  deed,  and  to  himself  as  having  con- 
sented to  it.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  Offa  seized  on  the 
domains  of  his  murdered  guest.  But  in  two  short  years  the 
blood-guilty  monarch  was  called  to  his  account.  This  crime 
has  fixed  infamy  on  the  name  of  Offa  and  his  queen.  Un- 
happily, such  deeds  were  not  rare  in  the  history  of  ruling 
men  and  ruling  women  through  this  period  of  our  history. 
Egfurth,  the  son  of  Offa,  reigned  but  a  few  months  ;  and, 
after  a  few  years  of  vicissitude  and  misfortune,  that  once 
powerful  family  became  extinct. 

Cenulf,  of  the  family  of  Penda,  was  the  next  king  of 
Mercia.  His  reign  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  his  invasion  of 
Kent,  and  from  the  pdrt  taken  by  him  in  certain  ecclesiasti- 
cal disputes  which  will  claim  our  attention  in  another  place. 


122  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^caS.  l!'  I^eiieli^j  Ws  son,  a  boy  of  seven  years  of  age,  was  murdered 
a  few  months  after  his  accession.  Ceolwulf,  who  succeeded 
him,  was  dethroned  in  the  second  year  of  his  sovereignty. 
Beomwulf,  the  next  in  succession,  had  to  submit  to  the  ris- 
ing power  of  Egbert  of  Wessex.* 

WeS2!  ^^  ^^  ^^'^  ^^'^  come  upon  a  track  which  promises  to  bring 
us  within  sight  of  the  object  of  our  search — a  concentration 
of  the  sovereignty  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain.  "We  have  seen 
that  in  488  Ceawlin,  king  of  Wessex,  became  Bretwalda, 
on  the  decease  of  the  first  great  Saxon  adventurer,  Hengist ' 
of  Kent.  Ceawlin  was  succeeded  by  his  nephews  Ceolric 
and  Ceolwulf.  The  reign  of  Ceolwulf  was  long,  and  emi- 
nently successful.  The  Scots  and  Picts,  the  Britons  and  the 
Saxons,  all  felt  the  power  of  his  hand.  The  South  Saxons, 
struggled  in  vain  to  become  independent  of  his  sway.  The 
Britons  he  compelled  to  leave  the  plains  of  Gloucestershire, 
and  to  seek  an  asylum  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Severn. 
On  the  death  of  Ceolwulf,  in  611,  the  successive  reigns  of 
the  two  nephews  were  followed  by  the  conjoint  reigns  of 
two  brothers,  Cynegils  and  Cuichelm,  sons  of  Ceolwulf. 
Through  twenty-four  years  the  two  brothers  reigned  in  har- 
mony and  successfully.  They  chastised  an  aggressive  spirit 
manifested  by  the  East  Saxons ;  and  they  were  victors  in 
their  encounters  with  the  Britons,  especially  in  a  great  bat- 
tle at  Brampton  in  Somersetshire.  Even  the  strength  of 
Penda  of  Mercia,  if  not  inferior  to  their  own,  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  subdue  them.  Cuichelm  died  in  635,  Cynegils  in 
642. 

Coinwald,  the  son  of  Ceolwulf,  was  the  next  King  of 
Wessex.  He  reigned  thirty  years.  He  waged  successful 
war  against  the  Britons.  But  in  his  time  the  "West  Saxons 
bowed  to  the  supremacy  of  Mercia,  first  under  Penda,  and 
afterwards  under  Wulphere.  On  the  death  of  Ceolwulf,  his 
widow,  Sexburga,  and  several  members  of  his  family,  set 
up  their  claim  to  be  his  successor,  and  for.  some  thirteen 
years  the  country  was  filled  with  disorder  and  violence.     In 

ceadwaiia,    685   Ccadwalla,  a  descendant  of  Ceawlin,   became  Idng. 

*  Chron.  Sac.  a.d.  661  et  seq.    Ethel werd,  lib  i. — iv.  passim.    Florence  Wig- 
orn.  A.D.  661-819.     Bcde.     Lappenberg,  Hist.  Eng.  i.  221-238. 


EI8E  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY ^EGBERT.  123 

Ceadwalla  was  not  more  than  twenty-six  years  of  age.  But  b^k  ii. 
lie  had  made  no  secret  of  his  pretensions  to  the  throne,  ^ad  ^^-^ 
shown  himself  brave  and  able,  and  Ceutwin,  the  last  king, 
had  named  him  as  his  successor.  His  arms  were  successful 
against  the  South  Saxons,  and  against  the  Jutes  of  Kent 
and  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  But  his  murder  of  the  two  sons 
of  Arvald,  a  chief  who  had  defended  the  latter  place  against 
him,  betrayed  his  want  of  magnanimity,  and  proclaimed 
him  as  unscrupulous  and  cruel.  He  had  formed  a  friend- 
ship in  exile  with  another  exile,  Wilfrid,  sometime  Bishop 
of  York.  Under  the  influence  of  that  ecclesiastic  he  visit- 
ed Rome,  to  receive  baptism  from  the  hands  of  the  Pope ; 
but,  before  putting  off  the  baptismal  vestments,  he  was 
seized  with  the  sickness  of  which  he  died  seven  days  after- 
wards. 

If  the  reign  of  Ceadwalla  was  short,  that  of  Ina,  his  sue-  ina. 
cesser,  was  long — it  was  also  memorable.  It  extended  to 
.  thirty-seven  years — from  688  to  726.  Ina  added  the  wis- 
dom of  the  legislator  to  his  genius  and  courage  as  a  military 
chief.  He,  too,  ended  his  days  as  a  religious  pilgrim  in 
Kome.  His  subjects,  who  appear  to  have  grown  impatient 
of  his  sway,  were  now  left  to  reap  as  they  had  sown.  They 
had  embittered  the  latter  days  of  a  good  king,  and  many 
long  years  of  disorder  and  suffering  awaited  them.  The 
succession  to  the  throne  was  disputed.  Their  enemies,  es- 
pecially the  Britons,  availed  themselves  of  the  season  of 
weakness  to  make  injurious  inroads  upon  their  territory. 
The  successive  reigns  of  Ethelheard,  Cuthred,  Sigebyrcht, 
Cynewulf,  and  Brittric  give  us  alternations  of  success  and 
defeat  in  wars  against  the  Mercians  and  the  Britons,  with 
the  too  common  admixture  of  deeds  of  treachery  and  mur- 
der. Of  Brittric  we  only  know  that  he  was  chosen  by  the 
Wessex  thanes  as  successor  to  Cynewulf;  that  at  first  he 
had  a  competitor  in  Egbert,  who,  after  fifteen  years  of  exile, 
was  to  be  his  successor  ;  and  that  he  met  his  death  by 
drinking  from  a  poisoned  cup  which  his  queen  had  prepared 
for  a  young  nobleman,  of  whose  place  in  the  affections  of 
the  king  she  had  become  jealous.  This  queen  was  Eadbur- 
ga,  a  daughter  of  Off  a. 


124 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
CiiAP.  3. 


Accession 
of  Egbert. 


Extent  of 
his  autho- 
rity. 


England 
not  design- 
ed for  an 
Heptarchy. 


On  the  death  of  Brittric,  Egbert  was  the  only  surviving 
descendant  of  Cerdic,  the  founder  of  "Wessex.  His  claim  to 
the  throne  was  undisputed.  His  years  of  exile  had  been  to 
him  years  of  education.  Under  Charlemagne  he  became 
proficient  in  matters  of  war  and  government.  The  early 
years  of  his  reign  were  wisely  employed  in  improving  the 
condition  of  his  people,  and  in  consolidating  his  power. 
Subsequently  he  extended  his  conquests  into  Wales,  and 
the  western  counties  of  England.  The  Britons  in  those  ter- 
ritories had  never  been  so  far  subdued.*  But  it  was  not 
until  more  than  twenty  years  after  his  accession  that  Egbert 
ventured  to  attack  the  Mercians.  The  East  Anglians  urged 
him  strongly  to  this  enterprise.  They  still  remembered  the 
murder  of  their  young  king  Ethelbert,  and  longed  to  see  a 
fitting  vengeance  descend  on  the  power  which  they  viewed 
as  stained  with  his  blood.  The  victory  of  Egbert  over 
Beornwulf  of  Mercia,  in  823,  enabled  him  to  assert  his  sov- 
ereignty over  the  East  Saxons,  Kent,  and  East  Anglia. 
Sussex  was  already  a  part  of  "Wessex.  It  only  remained 
that  Northumbria  should  acknowledge  his  supremacy.  In 
828  that  acknowledgment  was  extorted  without  an  appeal 
to  the  sword.  Egbert  thus  became  the  eighth  Bretwalda,  or, 
as  some  have  designated  him,  the  first  king  of  all  England. 

Separate  states  had  their  kings  under  Egbert,  as  under 
those  who  had  borne  the  title  of  Bretwalda  before  him. 
But  from  Cerdic,  through  Egbert,  all  the  dynasties  to  which 
England  has  been  subject  have  claimed  to  be  descended. 
It  is  this  fact,  as  much  as  his  high  authority,  that  has  made 
the  name  of  Egbert  a  landmark  in  English  history. f 

So  we  see  a  century  and  a  half  pass  away  between  the 
death  of  the  seventh  Bretwalda  and  the  appearance  of  the 
eighth.  But  the  power  of  Egbert,  as  we  have  intimated,  was 
much  greater  than  that  of  his  predecessors,  and  gave  better 
promise  of  continuance.     With  him  the  title  of  Bretwalda 

*  '  The  same  year  Egbert  laid  waste  West  Wales  from  eastward  to  westward.' 
— Chron.  Sac.  ad  an.  813. 

f  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  488-827.  '  This  Egbert,'  says  the  chronicler,  '  was  the 
eighth  king  of  the  English  nation  who  ruled  over  all  the  southern  provinces,  and 
those  which  are  separated  from  the  north  by  the  Humber,'  a.d.  827.  Ethelwerd, 
ii.  9,  10,  12,  13-20.  Flor.  Wigorn.  a.d.  672  et  seq.  Lappenberg,  Hist.  Eng. 
i.  251.  Mackintosh,  Hist.  Eng. 


RISE  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY EGBERT.  125 

was  a  reality.     Experience  must  often  have  suggested  that  ^^^  la- 
this subdivision  of  territory,  in  a  country  which  left  no  one     

state  any  strong  natural  means  of  defence  against  another, 
must  be  inseparable  from  much  inquietude  and  suffering. 
Over  the  space  of  more  than  three  centuries  the  same  evils 
had  been  constantly  arising  from  this  source.  The  history 
of  the  Heptarchy  had  been  in  fact  the  history  of  a  struggle 
for  the  mastery.  In  time,  tlie  master  would  be  sure  to  come, 
and  the  more  advanced  civilization  of  Wessex,  together  with 
its  closer  relation  to  the  continent,  seemed  clearly  to  point 
to  that  kingdom  as  the  seat  of  the  future  sovereignty.  Even 
the  ravages  of  the  Danes,  while  they  tended  rather  to  dis- 
tract and  weaken  the  several  states  than  to  unite  them, 
operated  favourably  for  Wessex,  inasmuch  as  they  fell  in 
their  greatest  weight  upon  its  rivals. 

But,  beside  the  calamities  which  came  from  the  frequent  eviis  from 

•  1111*^  elective 

wars  of  the  different  states  with  each  other,  there  were  monarchy, 
others,  hardly  less  considerable,  arising  from  the  custom 
which  made  the  monarchy  in  all  those  states  in  a  great 
measure  elective.  The  successor  to  the  vacant  throne  was 
generally  sought  in  the  family  of  the  deceased  king.  But 
the  nearest  of  kin  did  not  always  succeed  if  not  otherwise 
eligible.  If  of  tender  years,  or  of  deficient  capacity,  the 
claim  of  an  elder  son  might  give  place  to  that  of  a  younger, 
or  even  to  that  of  some  collateral  branch  of  the  family. 
Hence,  on  the  death  of  a  king,  there  was  often  room  for 
the  question,  who  should  succeed  him  ?  Even  in  anticipa- 
tion of  that  event,  factions  were  formed,  intrigues  were  rife, 
and  much  mischief  ensued  even  when  the  competitors  did 
not  proceed  to  the  length  of  settling  their  differences  by 
the  sword. 

But  there   were    strong:   reasons    urs^ed    in  favour   of  "^r*?!„^ 

o  o  right  of  suo 

this  custom,  notwithstanding  these  grave  consequences  at-  ^^g^etSeJ^ 
tendant  upon  it.  It  should  be  remembered  that  this  usage, 
and  the  ideas  and  feelings  on  which  it  was  based,  were 
essentially  German.  Our  rude  Saxon  ancestors  were  not 
men  to  change  their  customs  suddenly.  It  would  require 
a  considerably  advanced  state  of  civilization  to  enable  them 
to  see  the  advantages  and  the  possibility  of  a  wider  unity, 


126  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^HAp  8^'  ^^  as  to  be  willing  to  make  tlie  partial  sacrifices  necessary 

to  secure  that  more  general  object.     In  their  circumstances^ 

they  were  not  only  likely  to  adhere  to  their  separate  organ- 
izations, but  it  was  in  the  highest  degree  expedient  that  the 
right  of  succession  should  be  left  in  this  measure  open. 
Everything  seemed  to  depend  on  the  character  of  the  man 
at  the  head  of  their  affairs.  Hence,  when  the  next  in  suc- 
cession was  deemed  incompetent,  he  might  be  superseded 
by  the  next,  or  by  some  remote  kinsman.  From  these 
causes,  the  isolations  of  the  Heptarchy,  and  the  uncertain- 
ties of  succession,  would  stand  or  fall  together,  and  it  is  hard 
to  say  how  much  longer  they  would  have  continued  to  im- 
pede the  general  interest  of  the  Germanic  settlers  in  Britain, 
if  new  influences,  supplying  new  motives,  had  not  come 
into  action. 
^warTs"^^  One  of  these  influences  we  find  in  the  I^orthman  inva- 
uuity.  sions.  Tliat  event  put  an  end  to  international  feud,  if  it  did 
not  produce  unity  ;  and,  as  we  have  said,  favoured  the  rising 
power  of  Wessex.  Another  event,  tending  to  the  same 
result,  we  see  in  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  In  the 
Christianity  embraced  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  Eoman  ele- 
ment was  predominant,  and  that  was  in  all  respects  an  ele- 
ment of  centralization.  The  civil  law  of  Eome,  and  the 
ecclesiastical  law  which  had  long  been  growing  up  beside 
it,  did  everything  by  means  of  a  strong  centralized  power. 
Theodore,  a  Greek,  wljo  came  early  to  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury, was  intent  on  bringing  all  the  churches  of  the  Heptarchy 
under  one  scheme  of  discipline,  so  as  out  of  them  all  to  con- 
stitute in  reality  one  church.  Such  an  ignoring  of  the  civil 
barriers  by  which  each  state  was  separated  from  the  rest, 
was  a  strong  anticipation  of  the  time  when  all  those  states 
should  constitute  one  kingdom.  Wilfrid,  bishop  of  York,  a 
Saxon,  filled  the  Heptarchy  with  disputes  for  more  than 
forty  years  by  his  zeal  for  two  objects  ;  first,  to  secure  a  strict 
uniformity  in  the  religious  observances  of  the  churches  in 
the  different  states ;  and  then  to  connect  them  all,  as 
branches  of  one  great  national  church,  w^ith  the  see  of 
Rome.  Men  so  earnest  in  working  out  such  a  policy,  de- 
clared plainly  that  the  monarchy  over  these  churches  which 


EISE  OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY EGBERT.  12Y 

in  their  mind  was  the  most  expedient,  was  not  a  sevenfold  ^^^k  il 

.   ,      .  n  'n         t  1  CilAP.  8. 

monarchy,  with  its  endless  striies,  but  a  central  power,  that     

should  be  strong  in  its  great  principle  of  unity.  How  the 
impediments  in  the  way  of  this  consummation  in  the  time 
of  Egbert  were  subsequently  removed  will  appear  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

EISE    OF   THE   ET^GLISH   MONAECHY ^ATHELSTAN. 

BOOK  II.   TTT'E  liaye  seen,  that  during  several  centuries,  neither  the 
— -       ^  »     Britons  on  the  one  hand,  nor  the  Picts  and  Scots,  on 

Position  of  iiti  rr*  i/>«iTl 

wessex,      the  othcr,  had  been  sufficiently  lormidaDle  as  antas^omsts 

Mercia,  and 

Northum-    to  dispose  the  Ans^lo-Saxon  states  towards  any  combined 

bna,  in  re-  -^  *-"  "^ 

lation  to       course  of  action  from  a  sense  of  common  danger.     But 

the  Britons  .     ^ 

scot?^  another  cause  of  this  indisposition  towards  union  may  be 
found  where  it  has  not  hitherto  been  sought — viz.,  in  the 
geographical  positions  of  the  several  states  of  the  Heptarchy 
towards  each  other.  These  positions  were  such  as  to  fence 
off  the  whole  border-land,  both  of  the  "Welsh  and  of  the 
Scots  ;  and  each  of  the  great  Saxon  states  bordering  on 
those  bad  neighbours  judged  itself  competent  to  deal  with 
its  own  foes  along  its  own  line  of  territory,  and  was  dis- 
posed to  content  itself  with  that  wardenship  as  being  prop- 
erly its  own.  We  read  nothing  accordingly  of  allied  forces 
as  carrying  on  the  wars  of  the  Wessex  men  westward,  or  of 
the  ISTorthumbrian  men  northward.  Nor  do  we  find  the 
men  of  Mercia,  whose  lands  lay  between  these  two,  acting 
at  any  time  with  either.  The  smaller  states  of  the  Hep- 
tarchy— ^Iient,  Sussex,  Essex,  and  East  Anglia — were  shut 
off,  as  we  have  shown,  both  from  the  Britons  and  the  Scots, 
by  the  strong  curved  belt  formed  by  the  three  greater  states, 
Northumbria,  Mercia,  and  Wessex.  'No  force  from  Wales 
or  Scotland  could  reach  those  lesser  states  without  passing 
through  the  territory  of  these  greater  states.  It  was,  in  con- 
sequence, from  the  three  more  powerful  Saxon  states,  and 
not  from  the  Celt,  either  in  the  west  or  in  the  north,  that 


KISE   OF   THE  ENGLISH   MONARCHY — ATHEL8TAN.  129 

the  four  lesser  states  of  the  Heptarchy  had  to  apprehend  book  ii. 
danger.  

Eut  a  new  foe  is  now  about  to  assail  both  the  greater  Novelty  of 
and  the  smaller  kingdoms  of  Anglo-Saxon  Britain.  This  fr«m  the 
foe  is  one  who  will  seem  to  become  only  the  more  formida- 
ble the  more  he  is  resisted.  He  will  necessitate  a  suspension 
of  feuds.  He  will  baffle  in  no  small  degree  the  best  con- 
centrated means  that  can  be  directed  against  him.  The 
enemy  in  this  case,  is  a  maritime  enemy,  and  the  sea-board 
of  Britain  is  of  great  extent.  The  points  of  danger  accord- 
ingly are  many,  and  widely  apart,  and  seem  to  require  that 
the  means  of  defence  should  be  widely  diffused.  The  great 
want  of  the  exigency,  accordingly,  must  be  the  want  of 
confederation,  and  united  action.  But,  from  the  nature  of 
the  attacks  to  be  repelled,  such  action  will  be  extremely 
difficult  to  realize.  Every  local  force  will  be  naturally 
disposed  to  look  to  its  local  interests  and  dangers.  War 
between  one  Saxon  state  and  another  may  come  to  an  end, 
but  combined  operation  for  their  common  security  will  still 
be  hard  to  accomplish.  Had  the  concentration  of  the  sov- 
ereignty in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  been  realized  earlier,  the 
new  invader  might  have  experienced  such  a  reception  as 
would  have  taught  him  to  seek  his  booty  or  his  home  else- 
where. But  the  English  monarchy  had  barely  come  into 
existence,  when  it  became  exposed  to  dangers  that 
would  have  tasked  its  resources  to  the  utmost  had  it 
been  old  and  consolidated.  The  power  which  was  to  pros- 
trate everything  in  France,  might  well  prove  formidable 
to  the  Saxons  in  Britain.  Of  the  skill  which  experience 
gives  in  working  from  a  centre,  our  ancestors  of  those  days 
knew  little ;  and  the  intelligence  and  virtue  necessary  to 
subordinate  the  local  to  the  general,  prejudice  to  patriotism,  ' 

was,  as  may  be  supposed,  in  a  great  degree  wanting. 

Under  the  year  Y8T  the  Saxon   Chronicle  records  the  First  de- 

.        .  scent  of  the 

marriage  of  Brittric,  the  predecessor  of  Egbert,  to  Eadburga,  Danes, 
the  daughter  of  Offa,  and  then  adds :    '  In  his  days  first 
came  three  ships  of  JSTorthmen,  out  of  HaBrethaland.  *    And 

*  Lappenberg  says  that,  by  Haerethaland  we  are,  probably,  to  *  understand 
Vol.  I.— 9 


130  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cLa?.  4*  *^®  reeve  rode  to  the  place,  and  would  have  driven  them  to 
the  king's  town,  because  he  knew  not  who  they  were,  and 
thej  there  slew  him.  These  were  the  first  ships  of  Danish 
men  which  sought  the  land  of  the  English  nation.'  The  next 
record  of  this  description  was  in  794.  Under  that  year  we 
read : '  The  Heathens  ravaged  among  the  Northumbrians,  and 
plundered  Egferth's  monastery  at  Done-mouth  ;  and  there 
one  of  their  leaders  was  slain,  and  also  some  of  their  ships 
were  wrecked  by  a  tempest ;  and  many  of  them  were  there 
drowned,  and  some  came  on  shore  alive,  and  they  were 
soon  slain  at  the  river's  mouth.'  These  are  our  only 
notices  of  the  descents  of  these  '  Northmen — Danish 
men ' — and  '  Heathens,'  as  they  are  called,  before  the  ac- 
cession of  Egbert. 
Country  of  The  pcoplc  tlius  variously  designated  in  the  earliest 
men— aim    noticcs  of  tlicm  lu  our  anuals,  were  as  diversified  in  orierin 

of  their  in-  '  rrn         i  n     i       -r^    i    . 

cursions.  as  the  abovc  terms  would  suggest,  ihe  shores  of  the  Baltic, 
including  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden,  with  their  nu- 
merous islands,  formed  the  country  from  which  they  came. 
What  the  Saxons  had  been  in  the  sixth  century,  the  Danes 
had  become,  in  nearly  all  respects,  in  the  ninth  century — 
pirates ;  but  pirates  capable  of  prosecuting  their  schemes  of 
war  and  plunder  upon  a  large  scale,  on  the  land  or  on  the 
deep.  After  the  first  few  experiments,  their  object  in  visiting 
Britain  appears  to  have  been  to  secure  a  settlement  in  the 
country,  but  a  settlement  which  they  seem  to  have  contemplat- 
ed as  to  be  made,  not  so  much  by  subduing  the  natives,  as  by 
destroying  them. 
Causes  of  We  kuow  uot  the  causes  which  prompted  the  first  great 

mea™^^*''  Saxou  movcmcut.  The  increase  of  numbers,  the  pres- 
sure of  new  tribes  migrating  westward,  rival  leaderships 
and  convulsions — any,  or  all  of  these  circumstances,  might 
have  contributed  to  give  the  stream  of  races  the  direction 
then  taken  by  them.  But  we  are  not  left  so  much  in  un- 
certainty in  regard  to  the  causes  which  disposed  the  North- 
men to  direct  their  course  towards  Britain,  in  preference  to 
seeking  a  settlement  on  shores  nearer  to  their  own.   Tlie  con- 

Hordeland  in  Norway,  famed  for  its  sea-kings,  and  which,  at  a  later  period,  sent 
forth  the  unyielding  discoverers  of  Iceland.' — Hist.  ii.  12. 


RISE   OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONAKCHY — ATHEL8TAN.  131 

quests  of  Charlemagne  in  Germany,  and  the  sternness  with  book  il 
which  he  insisted  that  all  subdued  by  him  to  the  condition  — '-' 
of  subjects,  should  profess  themselves  Christians,  opposed  a 
formidable  barrier  to  migration  southward.  A  few  years 
only  had  intervened  since  the  achievements  of  Charlemagne, 
in  Germany,  when  these  invaders  begin  to  make  their  appear- 
ance in  this  country.  It  should  be  stated,  also,  that  our  own 
aristocratic  law  of  primogeniture  was  rigoroi^ly  enforced 
among  those  northern  hordes.  The  eldest  son  inherited  the 
property  of  his  father.  The  younger  sons  were  left  to  make 
acquisitions  for  themselves  by  such  means  as  should  appear  to 
them  expedient.  Hence  the  Corsair  life  so  commonly  assumed 
among  that  people,  and  the  ease  with  which  a  chief  of  capacity 
and  daring  could  attract  followers  to  his  standard.  The  ter- 
rible scourge  which  came  thus  into  action,  passed  along  the 
shores  of  Flanders,  Holland,  France,  and  Ireland,  and 
fell  with  memorable  ejffect  on  Britain.  ^ 

In  832  the  Danes  appeared  in  the  Tl^ames,  ravaged  the 
Isle  of  Sheppey,  and  retired  unmolested  with  their  spoil. 
In  the  year  following,  an  armament  of  five-and-thirty  vessels 
entered  the  Dart,  and  Egbert,  after  a  stubborn  engagement, 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  enemy  master  of  the  field. 
Two  years  later,  another  force  landed  in  Cornw9,ll,  and  pre- 
vailed on  some  of  the  Cornish  Britons  to  join  their  ranks. 
But  in  the  next  battle  victory  was  on  the  side  of  the  Sax- 
ons.    Egbert  died  the  following  year. 

It  was  now  evident  that  the  obiect  of  the  Danes  was  to  intentions 

^        .  .         1  T  .         -      of  the 

secure  a  permanent  looting  in  the  country,  and  not  simply  Danes. 
to  possess  themselves  of  booty.  Measures  were  taken  to 
guard  the  coast  more  effectually.  Military  officers  were 
stationed  from  place  to  place,  that  on  the  approach  of  an 
enemy  the  armed  men  of  the  district  might  be  assem- 
bled to  resist  a  landing.  In  the  first  year  of  Ethelwulf, 
who  succeeded  his  father  Egbert,  three  separate  armaments 
appeared  off  the  coast  of  Britain.  Tlie  king  opposed  him- 
self to  one  of  these,  but  with  what  success  is  unknown. 

*  Mallet's  Northern  Antiquities.      Lappenberg,   ii,    10-18,    and    note   by 
Thorpe.     Turner's  Anglo-Saxons^  i.  book  iv.  c  1,  ^ 
f  Chron.  Sax.  ad  an.  832-836. 


BOOK 
Chap. 


132  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

II-  Tlie  force  which  landed  at  Southampton  was  defeated  hj  the 
-  men  of  Hampshire  ;  but  that  which  landed  at  Portland  pre- 
vailed against  the  men  of  Dorset.  The  army  which  made 
its  appearance  in  Lincolnshire  in  838  was  more  powerful 
than  any  that  had  preceded  it.  The  men  who  encountered 
the  invaders  perished  by  the  sword  or  in  the  marshes  ;  and 
the  enemy  ravaged  the  country  at  pleasure  from  the  Hum- 
ber  to  the  Thames.  The  next  year  battles  were  fought, 
with  great  loss  of  life,  at  Canterbury,  Rochester,  and  near 
London. 

In  840  Ethel wulf  led  his  men  against  a  force  which  had 
landed  from  thirty-five  ships,  but  was  defeated.  The  next 
four  years  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  are  blank  ;  but  under  the 
year  851  we  find  the  following  record  :  This  year,  Ceorl,  the 
ealdorman,  with  the  men  of  Devonshire,  fought  against  the 
heathen  men  at  Wicanbeorg,  and  there  made  great  slaughter, 
and  got  the  victory.  And  the  same  year  king  Athelstan, 
and  Ealchere  the  ealdorman,  fought  on  shipboard,  and  slew 
a  great  number  of  the  enemy  at  Sandwich  in  Kent,  and  took 
nine .  ships,  and  put  the  others  to  flight ;  and  the  heathen 
men  remained  for  the  first  time  over  the  winter  in  Thanet. 
And  the  same  year  came  three  hundred  and  fifty  ships  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and  the  crews  landed  and  took 
Canterbury  and  London  by  storm,  and  put  to  flight  Beorht- 
wulf,  king  of  the  Mercians,  with  his  army,  and  then  went 
south  over  the  Thame  into  Surry ;  and  there  king  Ethel- 
wulf  and  his  son  Ethelbald,  with  the  army  of  the  West 
Saxons,  fought  against  them  at  Aclea  [Ockley],  and  there 
made  the  greatest  slaughter  among  the  heathen  army  that 
we  have  heard  reported  to  the  present  day.' 

But  these  partial  successes  did  not  free  the  country  from 
the  ]S"orthmen.  In  853  there  was  destructive  warfare  in 
Thanet  between  the  '  heathen  men'  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
men  of  Kent  and  Sussex  on  the  other  ;  and  under  the  year 
855  we  find  the  following  significant  entry  in  the  Chronicle 
above  cited  :  *  This  year  the  heathen  men  for  the  first  time 
remained  over  the  winter  in  Sheppey  ;  and  the  same  year 
King  Ethelwulf  gave  by  charter  the  tenth  of  his  land 
throughout  the  kingdom  for  the  glory  of  God  ^nd  his  own 


RISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH   MONARCHY — ATHELSTAN.  133 

eternal  salvation.  And  tlie  same  year  he  went  to  Rome  in  book  il 
great  state^  and  dwelt  there  twelve  months^  and  then  re-  — '- 
turned  homewards.'  The  reader  would  probably  think  th^^ 
the  king  who  could  be  absent  from  his  domain  for  such  a 
space  of  time,  at  such  a  season,  and  on  such  an  errand,  was 
not  inaptly  described  by  Malmesbury,  as  a  man  more  fitted 
to  wear  a  cowl,  than  to  wield  a  sceptre.*  Ethelwulf  died 
two  years  after  his  return  from  Rome. 

Ethelbald  and  Ethelbert,  sons  of  Ethelwulf,  had  distin- 
guished themselves  in  the  resistance  made  to  the  Danes, 
and  had  given  an  appearance  of  vigour  to  the  reign  of  their 
father  which  the  king  himself  could  never  have  imparted  to 
it.  But  history  gives  us  no  account  of  the  military  achieve- 
ments of  these  princes  during  the  short  period  of  their  sove- 
reignty. Ethelbald  reigned  two  years  only ;  Ethelbert 
died  in  865,  having  reigned  five  years.  Ethelbert  was 
succeeded  by  Ethelred,  the  third  of  the  sons  of  Ethel- 
wulf. 

It  is  from  the  accession  of  Ethelred  to  the  throne  of  Wes-  Recession 

of  Ethelred, 

sex,  at  a  time  when  so  much  was  expected  from  Wessex  by  ^y^'^^l  "^ 
the  other  states,  that  we  have  to  date  the  most  terrible  suc- 
cesses and  devastations  of  the  JN'orthmen.  The  struggle 
now  becomes  national.  The  question  now  to  be  decided  is, 
whether  the  Dane  or  the  Saxon  is  to  be  the  future  possessor 
of  England.  From  the  armaments  of  the  invader,  it  is 
clear  that  the  object  of  his  enterprise  is  thus  large.  The 
Saxons  were  now  made  to  feel  that  the  danger  affected  all, 
and  could  be  resisted  only  by  a  union  embracing  all.  But 
the  history  of  the  ravages  which  become  so  wide-spread 
from  this  time  has  some  antecedents  that  should  be  men- 
tioned. 

In  the  last  year  of  Ethelbert  the  Danes  made  a  descent  story  of 

,  Bagnar 

on  l^orthumbria.     That  kingdom  had  assumed  a  sort  of  in-  Lodbrog. 
dependence  since  the  death  of  Egbert ;  and  at  this  time 
two  chiefs,  Osbert  and  Ella,  had  filled  it  with  dissensions, 

*  Dr.  Lingard  {H'ut.  i.  211  et  scq.)  takes  exception  to  this  censure  of  Malmes- 
bury, and  to  soften  the  reproach  cast  upon  Ethelwulf,  and  on  the  superstitious 
influences  which  made  him  what  he  was,  the  historian  has  represented  the  danger 
from  the  Northmen  in  this  reign  as  much  less  than  we  know  it  to  have  been. — 
Chron.  Sax.     Asser,  Vita  Alfred. 


134  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

"cha?.  "*  ^^  competitors  for  rule.     Ella  at   once  turned  his   arms 

against  the  N"orthmen,  defeated  them,  and  made  their  leader 

pjjisoner.  It  proved  that  these  depredators  were  only  a 
remnant  of  a  much  larger  gathering,  whose  point  of  desti- 
nation had  been  the  coast  of  Britain.  But  many  vessels  had 
been  wrecked  ;  and  the  chief  who  had  been  captured,  was 
found  to  be  no  other  than  Ragnar  Lodbrog,  a  man  whose 
deeds  had  made  his  name  the  terror  of  every  coast  from  the 
Baltic  to  Ireland.  Twenty  years  since  he  had  ascended  the 
Seine,  made  himself  master  of  Paris,  and  surrendered  it  to 
the  Franks  on  condition  of  receiving  7000  pounds  of  silver 
as  the  price  of  its  ransom.  Ella  doomed  the  veteran  ma- 
rauder to  death.  He  was  cast  into  a  dungeon  of  venomous 
snakes  ;  and  the  poetry  of  his  people  describes  him  as  con- 
soling himself  in  his  suffering  by  predicting  that  the  '  cubs' 
— meaning  his  sons — would  take  good  recompense  for  the 
loss  of  the  '  boar.'  * 

Enterprise  This  was  in  865.     In  the  next  year  Inofuar  and  Ubbo, 

oflngilar  ./  o  ? 

and  Ubbo.  SOUS  of  Ragnar,  found  themselves  at  the  head  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  who  were  ready  to  share  the  fortunes  of  their 
chiefs,  and  to  avenge  the  fat  e  of  their  father.  The  arma- 
ment appears  to  have  been  driven  past  the  coast  of  ISTorth- 
urtibria  by  unfavourable  winds.  But  a  landing  was  se- 
cured without  opposition  on  the  neighbour  coast  of  East 
Anglia.  This  army,  great  as  it  may  seem,  was  not  deemed 
equal  to  the  object  contemplated.  The  winter  of  866-7 
was  in  great  part  occupied  in  securing  reinforcements,  in 
collecting  horses  for  cavalry,  and  in  attempting  to  sow 
disunion  among  the  natives. 

In  Eebruary,  the  invaders  began  their  march  towards 
Northumbria,  and  in  a  fortnight  they  had  fixed  their  head- 
quarters in  York.  Osbert  and  Ella,  laying  aside  their  dif- 
ferences, joined  in  an  attack  upon  the  enemy  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  that  city.  The  onset  was  in  favour  of  the  as- 
sailants ;  but  in  the  fight  within  the  city  the  courage  of  the 
ITorthmen  became  desperate,  Osbert  and  the  most  distin- 
guished of  his  followers  were  slain,  and  it  was  the  fate  of 

*  Asser,  Vita  Alf.     Chron.  Sax.     Saxo  Grammat.     176.     Turner's  Anglo- 
Saxons^  book  iv.  c.  3. 


RISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONAECinr — ATHEL8TAN.  135 

Ella  to  fall  alive  into  the  hand  of  the  sons  of  Ragnar.     His  book  ii. 
ribs  were  severed,  his  lungs  were  torn  through  the  crevice     — - 
thus  made,  and  salt  was  thrown  on  the  wounds.     This  kind 
of  death,  horrible   as  it  may  seem,  was  not  uncommon 
among  the  I^orthmen. 

From  that  day  England  north  of  the  Humber  may  be 
said  to  have  been  subdued.  An  army  was  stationed  at 
York  to  secure  the  possession,  and  to  protect  in  some  meas- 
ure the  industry  of  the  country ;  while  a  second,  and  a 
much  larger  army,  directed  its  way  southward. 

But  at  Nottingham  the  progress  of  this  force  was  The  cbeck 
checked.  The  army  opposed  to  it  was  one  of  great  strength,  ham. 
It  was  led  by  the  king  of  Mercia,  and  by  Ethelred  and  his 
brother  Alfred,  from  "Wessex.  The  l^orthmen  shrank  from 
the  hazard  of  an  engagement,  and  surrendered  the  place  on 
condition  of  being  allowed  to  retrace  their  steps  northward. 
The  DS,nes  from  E'ottingham  then  rejoined  their  country- 
men at  York.* 

But  the  check  thus  given  to  the  enemy  was  transient. 
The  three  years  which  followed  before  the  accession  of 
Alfred  to  the  throne  of  Wessex,  were  years  of  memorable 
calamity  to  the  people  of  Saxon  Britain.  Inguar,  re- 
nowned for  his  far-seeing  craft,  and  ITbbo,  no  less  renowned 
for  his  ferocious  bravery,  led  their  forces,  without  opposi- 
tion, through  Mercia  into  East  Anglia.  Another  horde  of 
adventurers,  in  the  meantime,  landed  at  Lindsey  in  Lincoln- 
shire, who  possessed  themselves  of  the  rich  monastery  of 
Bardeney,  plundered  it,  razed  it  to  the  ground,  and  put  all 
the  inmates  to  the  sword.f 

In  the  absence  of  Burhed,  the  kin^:  of  Mercia,  who  chose  Battle  of 

Kesteven. 

to  be  otherwise  employed,  Algar,  a  young  ealdorman,  cele- 
brated for  his  patriotism  and  courage,  is  said  to  have  sum- 
moned the  bolder  men  of  the  marshes  to  his  standard. 
Many  obeyed  his  call,  even  monks  are  described  as  ex- 
changing the  cowl  for  the  helmet,  and  as  resolved  to  defend 
their  Christian  homes  to  the  last  against  the  merciless 
pagans.     Tolius,  a  lay  brother  of  high  military  reputation, 

*  Ckron.  Sax.     Asser.     Snorre,  108.     Pet.  Olaus,  111. 
f  Sax.  Chron.     Asser. 


136  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  4. 


led  the  contingent  of  this  description  from  the  Abbey  of 
Croyland.  The  chivalrous  men  thus  brought  together  faced 
the  enemy  at  a  place  called  Kesteven.  In  the  desperate 
encounter  on  that  spot  three  Danish  kings  were  slain,  and 
Algar  and  his  followers  chased  the  Danes  to  the  entrance 
of  their  camp.  Night  then  came  on.  In  the  morning  came 
the  alarming  tidings  that  five  kings  and  five  jarls  had 
reached  the  Danish  camp  during  the  night.  Three-fourths 
of  Algar's  men  now  deemed  their  condition  hopeless,  and 
fled.  But  the  small  band  left  took  the  sacrament  from  the 
ecclesiastics,  now  their  companions  in  arms,  and  resolved 
to  oj)pose  themselves  to  the  last  to  the  odds  against  them. 

The  Danes  buried  their  slaughtered  kings,  and  then 
sharpened  their  weapons  for  the  revenge  to  follow.  But 
the  wings  and  centre  of  the  Saxons  were  found  to  be  immo- 
vable. So  well  had  they  chosen  their  position,  and  such 
was  their  steady  bravery,  that  through  the  whole  Mj  they 
defended  themselves  against  showers  of  arrows,  and  the  hea- 
vy swords  of  their  assailants.  Towards  evening  the  Danes 
feigned  a  retreat.  Algar  had  cautioned  his  men  against 
this  stratagem.  But  it  was  in  vain.  They  descended  in 
chase  of  the  foe — and  then  began  the  carnage.  For  now 
they  were  encompassed  by  numbers,  and  the  Saxons  fell  on 
every  side.  Algar  and  Tolius,  indeed,  with  a  few  faithful 
adherents,  regained  the  hill-side,  and  there  kept  the  enemy 
at  bay,  until,  covered  with  wounds,  their  bodies  were  added 
to  the  heaps  of  the  slain.  The  few  youths  who  gave  report 
of  this  tragedy  to  the  monks  of  Croyland,  were  the  only 
survivors. 
Destructive        From  that  battle-field  the  '  heathen   army  '  mi2:ht   be 

March  of  ./  & 

the  Danes,  tracked  by  the  conflagrations  which  marked  its  way.  The 
wealthy  abbeys  of  Croyland  and  Medeshamslede  were  de- 
stroyed, and  no  lives  that  could  be  reached  were  spared. 
The  head  of  the  abbot  of  Croyland  was  struck  ofl  on  the 
steps  of  the  altar.  In  storming  Medeshamstede  a  son  of 
Eagnar  was  wounded ;  and,  to  avenge  it,  Ubbo,  his  brother, 
is  said  to  have  inflicted  the  death-wound  on  the  abbot  and 
eighty  monks  with  his  own  hand.  Huntingdon  and  Ely 
shared  the  fate  of  the  places  above  named.     The  nuns  of 


RISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY — ATHEL8TAN.  137 

Ely,  who  were  many  of  them  from  wealthy  and  noble  fam-  book  n. 

ilies,  suffered  indignities  worse  than  death.     Tlietford  was     

the  next  place  taken,  and  that  also  was  given  to  the  flames. 
The  good  king  Edmund  opposed  them  in  vain,  and  met  a  Martyrdom 
martyr's  death  at  their  hands.  The  name  of  St.  Edmund  EdSd. 
stands  high  in  the  Roman  calendar  in  after  ages.  East  An- 
glia  now  ceased  to  be  a  Christian  state.  The  pagan  leader 
Guthorm  claimed  it  as  his  own.  Mercia  had  shown  nothing 
of  its  ancient  prowess  in  this  honr  of  tibial.  It  rested  with 
the  West  Saxons  to  determine  the  race  and  the  faith  that 
should  obtain  in  the  future  of  Britain.* 

We  have  said  that  the  Northmen  now  invaded  Britain  The  East- 

Anglian 

m  such  numbers  as  to  show  that  their  obiect  was  not  so  Danes  in- 

^  vadeWes- 

much  transient  plunder  as  a  settlement.  But  no  country  sex. 
could  be  productive  under  such  masters.  With  them,  to 
possess  was  to  impoverish.  Moreover,  their  restless  and  rov- 
ing habits,  after  a  short  interval  of  quiet,  often  became  too 
strong  to  be  controlled  by  their  new  resolutions.  Nor  was 
it  possible  that  they  should  be  without  some  sense  of  dan- 
ger, so  long  as  a  large  portion  of  the  country  remained  in 
the  hands  of  a  people  who  might  possibly  become  strong, 
and  who  would  not  fail  to  be  intensely  disposed  to  use  their 
strength  in  avenging  the  wrongs  of  the  past.  Some  of 
these  barbarian  hordes,  accordingly,  having  secured  their 
booty,  returned  for  a  season  to  their  homes ;  while  others, 
who  might  have  been  expected  to  settle  in  the  acquisitions 
they  had  made,  are  found  seeking  new  excitement  in  new 
adventures. 

Under  such  influences,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  871, 
a  large  division  of  the  '  heathen  army  '  in  East  Anglia  di- 
rected their  course  towards  the  lands  of  the  West  Saxons. 
This  army  was  led  by  the  two  kings  Bagseg  and  Ilalfdene, 

*  That  the  Danes  marched  over  the  territory  above  named,  and  left  upon  it 
the  terrible  traces  of  their  presence,  we  learn  from  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  Asser, 
and  other  sources.  But  for  the  particulars  concerning  Algar,  and  the  battle  of 
Kesteven,  we  are  indebted  to  the  more  doubtful  authority  of  the  history  attrib- 
uted to  Ingulf.  I  am  disposed,  however,  on  many  grounds,  rather  to  credit  than 
distrust  that  narrative  in  this  instance.  It  describes  nothing  which  is  not  charac- 
teristic of  the  historical  personages  named,  and  of  the  struggle  genei*ally  between 
the  belligerents.  In  this  case  there  was  nothing  to  be  gained  by  invention,  and 
the  substance  of  the  narrative  is  certainly  truthful. 


138 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  4. 


The 

ealdorman 
Ethelwulf. 


Battle  of 
heading. 


Battle  of 
Aslidune. 


by  Guthorm,  by  two  distinguished  chiefs  named  Sidroc. 
and  by  the  jarls — or  earls — Osbeam,  Frene,  and  Harald. 
They  ascended  the  Thames  in  their  ships,  and  sending  off 
detachments  in  different  directions,  overran  the  coast-lands 
and  the  south  provinces  of  the  West  Saxon  territory  in  great 
multitudes.  The  main  division  penetrated  as  far  as  Bead- 
ing, in  Berkshire,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  that 
place,  as  a  favourable  point  from  which  to  convey  their 
plunder  by  means  of  the  river  to  the  sea. 

On  the  third  day  after  their  arrival,  a  part  of  this  divi- 
sion mounted  their  horses,  and  sallied  forth  into  the  country 
in  search  of  spoil.  The  other  part  remained  in  the  town, 
and  occupied  themselves  in  strengthening  its  fortifications. 
The  men  of  Wessex  had  not  expected  such  visitors  at  so 
early  a  season.  But  Ethelwulf,  an  ealdorman  of  that  dis- 
trict, called  all  possessed  of  arms  in  his  neighbourhood  to- 
gether, and  determined  to  attack  the  marauders  before  they 
should  rejoin  their  confederates  at  Keading.  He  met  them 
at  a  place  called  Englafield.  In  the  resolute  encounter 
which  follow^ed,  one  of  the  jarls  was  slain,  and  the  rest 
were  put  to  flight.* 

Four  days  later,  king  Ethelred  and  his  brother  Alfred 
appeared  before  the  walls  of  Heading.  Tlie  Danes  were 
slow  to  accept  the  challenge  thus  given  to  them.  But  while 
the  Saxons  were  busy  in  forming  an  encampment,  the  ene- 
my, rushed  forth  upon  them,  and  took  them  by  surprise. 
The  battle  which  ensued  was  obstinate.  The  prospect  of 
victory  changed  for  some  time  from  side  to  side.  In  the 
end  the  heathen  men  prevailed,  and  the  body  of  the  brave 
ealdorman  Ethelwulf  was  among  those  who  had  fallen.f 

Enough,  however,  had  taken  place  to  show  that  the  men 
of  Wessex  were  likely  to  furnish  much  graver  employment 
to  their  enemies  than  had  been  imposed  upon  them  in  the 
other  Saxon  states.:]:  Four  days  only  had  passed  w^hen 
Ethelred  and  Alfred  were  again  prepared  to  take  the  field. 
Their  place  of  meeting  was  Ashdune  (or  Aston)  in  Berkshire. 
The  battle  on  that  spot  was  a  real  trial  of  strength.     The 


*  Chron.  Sax.  811.     Asser,  Vit.  Alf. 

■j-  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  871.     Asser,  Vita  Alf. 


X  Ibid. 


KISE  OF  THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY — ATHEL8TAN.  139 

Danes  felt  that  it  became  them  to  avail  themselves  of  every  ^^^  J 

possible  advantage.     The  position  they  had  taken  was  on     

an  eminence,  crowned  with  a  short  thick  underwood,  from 
which,  as  a  kind  of  breastwork,  it  would  be  easy  to  gall  the 
Saxons  in  attempting  to  reach  the  summit.  Alfred  was 
early  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  and  prompt  in  his  preparations 
for  the  fray.  But  Ethelred  was  at  mass,  and  though  ap- 
prised that  the  moment  for  action  had  come,  refused  to  move 
until  the  last  word  should  be  pronounced  by  the  priest. 
The  king  should  have  given  the  order  for  battle,  but  Alfred, 
having  waited  until  waiting  longer  became  perilous,  raised 
the  signal,  and  speedily  the  weapons  of  his  followers  were 
in  full  play  upon  the  enemy.  The  fight  became  stubborn — • 
destructive — hand  to  hand.  Ethelred  soon  joined  his  divi- 
sion, and  charged  boldly  on  the  men  under  the  kings  Bag- 
seg  and  Halfdene.  Brave  deeds  were  done  by  the  North- 
men on  that  day,  but  braver  by  the  Saxons.  At  length 
the  former  began  to  waver,  the  Saxons  rushed  on  with  new 
courage,  and  the  slaughter  which  ensued  is  described  by  an- 
cient writers  as  the  greatest  England  had  ever  witnessed. 
Ethelred  slew  the  king  Bagseg  with  his  own  hand.  Among 
the  dead  were  the  two  Sidrocs,  the  three  jarls  Osbearn, 
Frene,  and  Harald,  with  many  more  who  were  accounted 
the  flower  and  hope  of  the  ^Northmen.  The  Saxons  chased 
the  fugitives  from  Aston  to  Reading,  strewing  the  whole 
way  with  the  slain.* 

But  the  calamity  of  these  times  was,  that  to  sweep  off 
these  barbarians  on  any  scale  seemed  to  be  to  little  pur- 
pose. The  void  of  to-day  was  filled  up  with  swarms  of 
new-comers  to-morrow.  The  hive  which  sent  them  forth 
seemed  to  be  inexhaustible.  Thus,  within  a  few  weeks  af- 
ter the  battle  of  Ashdune,  came  another  at  Basing  in  Hamp- 
shire, and  another  at  Merton,  near  to  Ashdune.  In  these 
engagements  the  West  Saxons  acquitted  themselves  with 
their  wonted  ability  and  courage ;  but  many  of  the  bravest 
among  them  fell,  and  the  enemy,  though  in  neither  case  a 
victor,  in  both  cases,  to  use  the  language  of  the  old  chroni- 
cle, '  kept  the  place  of  carnage.'     It  was  at  this  juncture  of 

*  Asser,  a.d.  8V1.     Chron.  Sax. 


140 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  4. 


Accession 
of  Alfred. 


Increased 
power  of 
the  Danes. 


afFairs  that  Ethelred  breathed  his  last — whether  from  wounds 
or  natural  causes  is  uncertain.  His  conduct  on  the  whole 
had  been  such  as  to  entitle  him  to  the  esteem  and  affection 
of  his  subjects.  It  is  in  such  circumstances  that  Alfred, 
since  known  as  the  '  great,'  comes  to  the  possession  of  king- 
ly power.* 

The  character  and  reign  of  Alfred  have  many  claims  to 
our  attention.  Our  concern  in  this  place  is  simply  with  the 
military  events  of  his  career,  and  their  result.  The  sons  of 
Ethelred  were  children ;  and  there  was  much  in  the  past, 
and  everything  in  the  present,  to  prepare  men  for  seeing  in 
Alfred  the  natural  successor  to  the  throne. 

In  place  of  the  court  pageants  usual  on  an  accession,  the 
scenes  awaiting  the  new  king  were  such  as  menaced  every- 
thing most -valued  by  himself  and  his  subjects.  Tlie  strife 
before  them  was  deadly,  its  issue  to  the  last  degree  doubtful. 
Soon  after  the  battle  of  Merton,  strong  reinforcements  join- 
ed the  army  at  Eeading.  Bolder  incursions  were  made  into 
the  neighbouring  country.  Weeks  passed  and  Alfred  found 
it  impossible  to  raise  an  army  capable  of  meeting  such  an 
enemy.  His  loss  from  the  odds  opposed  to  him  at  Wilton 
added  to  the  discouragement  of  his  subjects,  and  to  the 
sense  of  weakness  which  weighed  at  this  time  on  his  own 
spirit.  In  twelve  months,  eight  regular  engagements  had 
taken  place,  besides  almost  incessant  skirmishing.  Great 
had  been  the  losses  of  the  E"orthmen,  but  great  also  had 
been  the  losses  of  the  king.  In  the  meanwhile  Alfred's  sup- 
plies of  men,  expert  in  the  use  of  the  weapons  of  war,  did  not 
keep  pace  with  those  of  his  enemies  ;  nor  was  he  at  liberty 
to  resort  to  plunder  to  replenish  his  exchequer.  The  issue 
was,  that  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  he  consented,  along 
with  his  thanes,  to  buy  off  the  invaders.  But  it  soon  be- 
came known  that  all  such  compacts  with  that  people  were 
worse  than  useless.  Tlie  Mercians  had  tried  the  expedient. 
It  impoverished  them  without  giving  them  the  promised  se- 
curity. In  874  that  once  powerful  kingdom  ceased  to  exist. 
In  that  year,  Burhed,  its  last  king,  sought  an  asylum  in 
Eome.     One   Ceolwulf  was   set  up  by  the   Danes   in  his 


*  Asser,  21-24.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  8*71.     Flor.  Wigorn. 


KISE   OF   THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY — ATHELSTAN.  141 

stead,  but  was  used,  as  the  Romans  often  used  such  men,  as  book  il 

'  '  CuA.p.  4. 

a  tool  to  bear  the  odium  of  their  own  extortions.     Many  of      

the  Danes  now  settled  in  that  country,  and  gave  names  to 
the  localities  of  their  choice  which  have  descended  to  our 
times.* 

From  875  to  878  the  gloom  thickened  over  Anglo-Sax- 
on Britain.  The  old  districts  being  exhausted,  the  pirate 
hordes  began  the  exploring  of  new  ground.  A  second  ef- 
fort was  made  to  bribe  them  to  a  distance,  and  to  bind 
them  by  special  means  to  their  promise  ;  but  the  same  per- 
fidy followed.  They  possessed  themselves  of  Wareham  and 
Exeter,  as  places  of  strength,  and  places  whence  they  might 
readily  descend  to  the  sea  with  such  spoil  as  they  should 
obtain. 

Durine:  these  troubled  years,  however,  the  naval  history  Alfred 

^  J  ?  '  ./   raises  a 

of  England  may  be  said  to  have  commenced.  Alfred  built  fleet. 
or  collected  a  number  of  ships,  manned  them  wdth  brave 
seamen,  and  by  this  means  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  a 
Danish  fleet,  w^hich  had  been  driven  by  foul  weather  on  the 
coast  of  Dorset.  This  was  in  877.  Tlie  armament  thus 
scattered  or  annihilated,  was  destined  for  the  relief  of  Exeter. 
Tlie  besieged,  seeing  no  chance  of  succour,  capitulated,  giv- 
ing hostages  to  abstain  from  further  hostilities  in  Wessex. 
But,  reaching  Gloucester,  they  renewed  the  work  of  pillage 
and  destruction.  The  impoverished  condition  to  which  they 
had  reduced  all  the  Saxon  kingdoms,  prompted  the  banditti 
which  now  covered  the  land,  to  explore  the  barren  homes 
of  the  Welsh,  and  of  the  Picts  and  Scots.  But  that  proved 
a  bootless  errand.  The  last  effort  made  at  this  crisis  against 
these  sons  of  the  destroyer,  was  at  Kynwith,  where  a  feeble 
garrison  resisted  a  rigorous  siege,  and  surprising  the  besieg- 
ers in  a  sally,  destroyed  more  than  a  thousand  of  them. 
And  now  the  time  had  come  in  which  the  high  spirit  of  the 
Saxon  race  appeared  to  have  forsaken  them.  Many  fled 
with  such  moveables  as  they  could  take  with  them  to  other 
countries ;  the  rest  seem  to  have  learned  to  look  on  their 
unhappy  condition  as  a  destiny,  and  to  submit. f 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  SYl-SH.     Asser,  24-26. 
f   Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  8'73-8'7'7.     Asser,  24-29. 


142 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  4. 

The  lowest, 
stage  of  dis- 
order and 
depression. 


Alfred 
leaves  his 
retreat 


Popular  feeling  is  ever  liable  to  these  alternations.  Its 
excesses  in  elevation  and  depression  come  from  the  same 
cause.  To  yield  to  tlie  pressure  of  the  many,  whether  for 
good  or  evil,  is  natural  to  man.  Where  all  seem  to  obey, 
it  is  hard  for  the  individual  to  resist.  But  there  are  some 
noble  natures  to  whom  such  self-sustaining  power  is  given, 
and  who  can  hope  where  hope  seems  to  have  forsaken 
all  beside.  Alfred  the  king  was  one  of  these.  He  might 
have  gathered  his  staff  together,  and  have  found  high  mili- 
tary service  in  other  lands ;  or  hp  might  have  journeyed  as  a 
pilgrim  to  that  old  Rome  upon  whose  shrines  he  had  gazed 
in  his  boyhood.  In  that  case,  what  would  have  been  the 
future  of  English  history  ?  Tlie  old  northern  paganism — 
which  the  Saxon  had  abandoned — would  have  again  become 
ascendant.  The  religion  of  the  Cross  would  probably  have 
ceased.  The  barbaric  customs  of  Scandinavia  would  have 
found  a  new  home  in  Britain.  The  near  prospect  of  that 
powerful  English  monarchy,  towards  which  so  many  in- 
fluences had  seemed  to  be  converging,  would  have  vanished. 
This  island  might  have  become,  and  have  long  continued,, 
the  great  rendezvous  of  sea-kings — the  base  from  which  they 
would  have  gone  forth  to  spread  their  devastations,  super- 
stitions, and  barbarisms  over  the  fairest  provinces  of  Europe. 

Alfred  could  believe  that  this  was  not  to  be.  He  could 
have  faith  in  God.  To  prevent  such  calamity,  he  could 
watch  his  last  watch,  offer  his  last  prayer,  do  his  last  pos- 
sible deed.  It  is  clear  that  he  must  have  thought  it  pos- 
sible that  even  from  this  state  of  things  there  might  be  a 
return,  and  that  it  behoved  him  to  be  vigilant,  patient,  and 
ready.     The  selfish  did  not  rule  in  this  man — but  the  hu- 


mane, the  patriotic,  the 


religious ; 


and  he  has  his  reward. 


The  seeds  of  the  coming  England  were  in  that  great  heart ; 
though  its  ground-spring  of  action,  we  can  readily  suppose, 
was  a  simple  sense  of  duty. 

During  the  winter  of  87T-8  the  king  concealed  himself 
among  the  woods  and  lowlands  of  Somersetshire.  Miser- 
able was  the  shelter  there  found,  and  difficult  often  was  it 
to  obtain  tlie  poorest  means  of  subsistence  for  himself  and 
his  few  faithful  followers.     But  with  the  new  life  of  the 


KISE   OF   THE  ENGLISH  MONARCHY — ^ATHELSTAN.  143 

Bpring-time  came  new  hope  to  the  fugitives.     We  meddle  book  n. 

not  now  with  the  traditionary  or  the  doubtful.     Suffice  it      

to  say,  that  in  the  spring  of  878  Alfred  quitted  Iiis  retreat 
at  Atlielney,  and  called  the  faithful  men  of  the  district  to 
his  standard,  and  that  he  soon  found  himself  suiTOunded  by 
a  brave  and  loyal  host,  who  gazed  upon  their  king  as  upon 
one  who  had  been  dead  and  was  alive  again.  Some  weeks 
passed  in  collecting  greater  numbers,  in  severe  military  ex- 
ercises, and  in  some  successful  skirmishing.  Wilts  and 
Hants,  as  well  as  Somerset,  sent  their  supplies  of  men  and 
means. 

Tlie  head-quarters  of  the  Danes  was  at  Chippenham.  ^Jj^j*'^ 
Alfred  marched  in  that  direction.  But  the  place  where  the 
two  armies  met  was  Ethadune,  probably  Edington,  near 
Westbury,  in  Wiltshire.  The  White  Horse  on  the  side  of 
Edington  Hill,  seen  at  different  points  to  a  distance  of  many 
miles  across  the  vale  beneath,  is  still  recognized  by  the 
traveller  as  commemorative  of  the  death-struggle  which 
once  raged  on  that  eminence.  The  conflict  was  desperate 
on  the  part  of  the  Danes,  but  decisive  on  the  side  of  the 
Saxons.  The  l^orthmen  were  chased  from  that  high  border 
of  Salisbury  Plain,  down  the  slope  towards  Chippenham, 
and  no  quarter  was  given.  Chippenham  itself  was  besieged, 
and  after  fourteen  days  was  compelled  to  capitulate.  The 
veteran  Guthorm,  the  commander  of  the  Danes  in  that 
place,  some  weeks  later,  professed  himself  a  Christian.  His 
chiefs  for  the  most  j)art  followed  his  example.  Alfred 
himself  stood  sponsor  for  his  old  enemy,  and,  though  the 
passions  of  the  past  returned  upon  him  at  times  with  great 
force,  and  rendered  him  still  in  some  degree  unfaithful  to 
the  trust  reposed  in  him,  Guthorm  ended  his  days  in  com- 
parative tranquillity,  as  the  possessor  of  East  Anglia,  and 
still  adhering  to  his  new  faith.  Before  his  decease,  the 
heathenism  he  had  introduced  had  nearly  disappeared.* 

Alfred  deemed  it  wise  to  favour  the  disposition  of  the  Alfred's 
Danes  to  remain  in  the  land,  stipulating,  however,  as  the  Guthorm. 
condition,  that  they  should  conform  themselves  to  the  order 
and  habits  of  settled  and  civilized  communities.     He  ap- 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  8*78.     Asser,  31  et  seq. 


144 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


Effects  of 
the  wars 
with  tho 
Danes. 


^c£S.  "■  P^^^s  to  have  tliought  that  men  so  acquiring  a  home  in  the 
country,  would  come  by  degrees  to  have  their  own  motives 
for  resisting  further  invasion  ;  and  that  mixing  gradually 
with  the  Saxons,  they  would  contribute  to  the  stability 
of  the  throne,  and  to  the  future  unity  and  progress  of 
the  nation.  The  mischiefs  of  this  policy  were  great,  but 
possibly  those  of  a  contrary  course  would  have  been 
greater. 

We  have  seen  that  the  invasions  of  the  Northmen  began 
to  be  foiTuidable  in  the  reign  of  Egbert.  The  battle  of 
Ethadune  brought  eighty  years  of  war  and  destruction  to 
a  temporary  close.*  Great  was  the  check  given  to  all 
things  conducive  to  social  progress  by  these  devastations. 
The  previous  wars  of  the  Heptarchy,  frequent  and  pregnant 
with  evil  as  they  were,  had  not  been  inconsistent  with  signs 
of  improvement,  both  in  social  and  religious  life.  But  on 
all  this  the  Danish  invasions  came  as  the  hand  of  a  de- 
stroyer. One  good,  however,  came  out  of  this  wide  march 
of  evil.  The  reconstruction  of  the  Heptarchy  was  impos- 
sible. Its  machinery  had  been  so  crushed,  its  elements  had 
been  so  consumed,  that  no  one  could  hope  to  succeed  in 
attempting  to  replace  it,  or  anything  resembling  it.  Korth- 
umbria,  partly  from  the  ravages  of  the  Northmen,  and 
partly  from  its  own  dissensions,  had  almost  ceased  to  be  a 
kingdom.  The  same  was  still  more  true  of  Mercia.  Wes- 
sex,  with  its  race  of  Cerdic  represented  in  Alfred,  became 
the  destined  centre  of  unity  for  the  coming  time.  The 
natural  course  of  the  smaller  eastern  states  was,  that  they 
should  avail  themselves  of  the  safety  which  the  weak  may 
derive  from  their  friendly  relations  to  the  strong. 

The  years  of  peace  which  Alfred  had  won  by  successful 
war,  were  sedulously  and  wisely  employed  in  adding  to  the 
military  strength  of  his  dominions.  Mercia  he  had  assigned 
to  the  able  oversight  of  the  ealdorman  Ethelred,  his  son-in- 
law.  Tlie  Welsh  princes  readily  acknowledged  his  author- 
ity ;  and  the  East  Anglian  and  Northumbrian  Danes  were, 
in  effect,  if  not  in  form,  subject  to  it.f 

*  The  arms  of  the  Northmen  were  novr  turned  mainly  towards  France. 
Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  881-88Y. 

f  Asser,  36  et  seq.   Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  886,  894. 


Alfred's 
precautions. 


EISE   OF  THE  ENGLISH   MONARCHY — ^ATHELSTAN.  *       145 

ITo thing  less  than  the  precaution  thus  taken  could  have  book  il 
saved  the  kingdom  from  the  hands  of  the  Northmen  to-  ^-, — 

o  The  inva- 

wards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Alfred.  Hastings,  a  Danish  Ji^y^^f'^®'' 
chief  who  had  traversed  Gaul  and  other  countries  almost  at 
pleasure  during  the  last  forty  years,  resolved  in  893  to  at- 
tempt the  establishment  of  a  kingdom  for  himself  in  Brit- 
ain. His  armaments  were  commensurate  with  his  design. 
One  fleet  of  eighty  ships,  conducted  by  Hastings  himself, 
ascended  the  Swale,  and  took  up  its  position  on  the  north- 
ern coast  of  Kent ;  the  other,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  ships,  landed  its  warriors  on  the  south  coast,  near  the 
point  now  known  as  Romney  Marsh.  Alfred  took  posses- 
sion of  a  high  ground  between  these  opposite  points,  and 
brought  so  much  sagacity  to  his  plans,  that  the  movements 
of  his  antagonists,  expert  and  treacherous  as  they  proved, 
were  thoroughly  counter-worked.  Baffled  and  scattered, 
they  succeeded  in  making  their  devastations  visible  in 
widely  distant  parts  of  the  island  ;  but  their  great  scheme, 
after  three  years  of  toil,  frustration,  and  loss,  ended  in  fail- 
ure. The  l^orthumbrian  and  East  Anglian  Danes  became 
so  far  the  partisans  of  Hastings  as  to  suggest  the  expediency 
of  measures  that  should  secure  a  less  doubtful  allegiance 
from  that  quarter.  Guthorm  was  now  dead  ;  and  Hastings 
subsequently  found  his  home  in  the  city  of  Chartres,  the 
adjacent  territory  being  ceded  to  him,  on  certain  feudal  con- 
ditions, by  Charles  the  Simple.* 

In  England,  the  Danes  were  now  the  dangerous  element,  ^gfter^oj., 
ISTot  a  few  of  them  had  learnt  to  live  peaceably  ;  but  it  was  fj^n  the 
evident  that  their  old  propensities  were  so  strong  in  others  ^^^^^' 
as  to  dispose  them  to  join  almost  any  standard  which  prom- 
ised them  a  greater  measure  of  independence  and  licence. 
With  regard  to  organization  and  government,  however,  the 
Danes  were  in  the  ninth  century  very  much  what  the  Sax- 
ons had  been  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries.     Experience 
had  made  them  familiar  with  the  action  of  small  confeder- 
acies.    Combined  action  on  a  large  scale  they  had  to  learn 

as  time  and  circumstances  only  could  teach  them.     On  this 

* 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  894,  895.     Asser.     Ethelwerd.    I'lor.  Wigorn.  ad  an. 
893,  894. 

Vol.  I.— 10 


146 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


^cliA?.  4'  i^^aterial  point  the  education  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  as  forced 
upon  them  by  the  events  of  the  last  four  centuries,  gave 
them  a  decided  advantage. 
Edward^  Under  Edward,  the  son  and  successor  of  Alfred,  the 

Athektan.  Auglo-Saxous  availed  themselves  of  this  advantage  with 
much  effect.  Before  his  death  in  924,  Edward  had  fully 
subdued  the  disaffected  in  the  East  Anglian  states  and  in 
]S"orthumbria,  had  annexed  Mercia  formally  to  Wessex, 
and  was  the  acknowledged  sovereign  of  a  larger  territory 
than  had  owned  the  authority  of  the  most  fortunate  of  his 
predecessors.*  But  if  the  authority  of  Edward  exceeded 
that  of  the  most  potent  among  his  precursors,  the  authority 
of  Athelstan,  who  next  ascended  the  throne  of  Cerdic,  was 
still  more  weighty  and  extended.  He  asserted  his  sove- 
reignty, and  with  success,  over  E'orthumbria.  He  taught 
the  Britons  of  Wales  and  Cornwall  the  expediency  of  sub- 
mission. Even  the  king  of  Scotland  was  among  his  depend- 
ents. 
indt?^°  Great,  however,  as  was  this  power  of  Athelstan,  a  crisis 

Aniaff.  came  in  which  he  needed  all  his  resources.  He  had  given 
his  daughter  Editha  in  marriage  to  a  E'orthman  named 
Sightric,  who  had  come  to  be  possessed  of  a  kind  of  roy- 
alty over  Korthumbria.  Sightric  died  within  a  year  after 
his  marriage  and  his  baptism.  Athelstan  then  seized  on 
Nortlmmbria  in  right  of  his  daughter.  But  Anlafi*,  one  of 
the  sons  of  Sightric,  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to  this 
summary  proceeding.  He  fled  before  the  power  of  Athel- 
stan at  the  time.  But  about  ten  years  later  he  appeared  in 
the  Humber  as  the  commander  of  a  fleet  consisting  of  more 
than  six  hundred  vessels.  The  warriors  in  this  confedera- 
tion were  mostly  sea-kings  and  their  followers,  but  ulti- 
mately the  army  included  many  ^Northumbrian  Danes,  with 
larger  contingents  from  the  Scots  and  the  Britons. 
Battle  of  Tlie  two  armics  met  at  Brunanburgh  in  Korthumbria. 

burgh.  Tlie  numbers  were  greater  than  had  been  opposed  to  each 
other  on  the  same  field  in  British  history  since  the  issue  of 
the  struggle  between  the  Celts  and  the  Bomans.    The  battle 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  901-924.     Ingulph.  28. 


KISE   OF   THE   ENGLISH   MONARCHY — ATHELSTAN.  147 

of  Brunanburgh  raged  from  morning  until  evening ;  but  book  il 
victory  was  with  tbe  Saxons.    Anlaff  escaped.    Among  the     ^^ 
dead  were  five  sea-kings  and  seven  jarls,  besides  a  son  of 
the  king  of  Scotland.     The  issue  of  that  day  made  Athel-  Athcistan 
Stan  truly  '  King  of  England.'    Egbert,  and  even  Alfred  and  England. 
Edward,  ruled  England  as  kings  of  "Wessex.     But  the  mon- 
archy of  Cerdic  now  absorbed  every  other  within  the  limits 
of  the  country  to  which  the  name  of  England  has  since  been 
given.  ^ 

*  Chron.  Sax.     Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  26. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EiSE  OF  THE  da:n^ish  mo:n^aechy. 


BOOK  11 
Chap.  5. 


Edmund 


tion. 


ATPIELSTAE"  was  succeeded  by  liis  lialf-brotlier  Edmund, 
then  about  eigbteen  years  of  age.  Edmund  had  ac- 
AtSsSn  quired  reputation  as  a  soldier  at  Brunanburgh.  But  the 
insir^iS  fear  which  the  genius  of  Athelstan  had  inspired  having 
passed  away,  the  Danes  of  l^orthumbria  invited  Anlaff  to 
try  his  fortune  anew  in  England.  The  Danes  of  Mercia, 
and  many  in  East  Anglia,  it  is  said,  joined  in  the  revolt. 
Even  Wulfstan,  the  archbishop  of  York  played  the  traitor. 
Edmund  encountered  the  enemy  at  Tamworth.  The  issue 
there  was  in  favour  of  the  insurgents.  The  scale,  however, 
soon  turned  to  the  other  side.  The  king  besieged  the  rebels 
in  Leicester ;  and  so  menacing  were  his  approaches,  that 
AnlafF  and  Wulfstan  made  their  escape  by  night.  The  end 
was,  that  through  the  intervention  of  Odo,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  himself  the  son  of  a  Dane  who  had  fought 
against  Alfred,  Anlaff  was  permitted  to  retain  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  territory  north  of  the  Watling  Street,  and  Ed- 
mund was  reconciled  to  AYulfstan.  But  Anlaff  died  soon 
afterwards;  and  the  two  chiefs,  Anlaff  and  Regnald,  who 
were  allowed  to  divide  his  territory  between  them,  were 
finally  deprived  of  their  sovereignty  by  Edmund,  who  de- 
clared himself  master  of  Korthumbria.  The  policy  and 
the  arms  of  Edmund  were  at  length  equally  successful  in 
the  affairs  of  Wales  and  Scotland.  * 

Edmund  had  reigned  six  years  only  when  he  fell  by  the 
dagger  of  Leof,  an  outlaw,  during  a  religious  festival  at 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  941-946.     Flor.  Wigorn.  ad  an.  924  et  seq.     Ethelwerd, 
chap.  vi.     Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  c.  /?. 


EI8E  OF  THE   DANISH  MONARCHY.  149 

Pucldechurcli  in  Gloucestershire.  He  left  two  sons;  but  book  il 
they  were  yonng  children,  and  the  Witan  chose  Ed  red  his  — '-' 
brother  to  be  kinsr.     Edred  was  crowned  by  Archbishop  ^'ired- 

'-'  '■'  ^    continued 

Odo  at  Kino;ston.     As  usual,  the  first  trouble  of  the  new  'nqu'etude 

o  '  from  the 

sovereign  came  from  the  Danes  of  the  northern  counties.  J^?an^"™' 
The  nine  years  of  his  reign  were  almost  wholly  occupied  ^'^°*^'' 
in  quelling  insurrection  and  faction  in  that  part  of  his  do- 
minions. But  from  this  time  we  may  date  the  final  subjec- 
tion of  l^orthumbria.  The  death  of  Edred  was  the  result  of 
a  disease  from  which  he  had  sufi'ered  so  long  and  so  greatly, 
that  the  successes  of  his  reign  were  attributed  mainly  to  the 
able  services  of  the  notorious  Dunstan,  and  to  the  wisdom 
of  Turketul,  the  accredited  minister  of  his  affairs.  "^ 

Edwy,  the  eldest  son  of  Edmund,  now  became  king,  f ^Sr 
His  reign  is  chiefly  remarkable  from  the  feud  between  him  p^^er. 
and  the  ecclesiastics  of  his  time,  especially  with  Dunstan. 
But  these  circumstances  belong  to  the  religious  history  of 
this  period.  It  must  suffice  to  say  iii  this  place,  that  a 
reign  of  two  short  years  in  the  history  of  this  unhappy 
prince,  was  more  than  enough  to  show  that  the  time  had 
come  in  which  the  civil  power  attempting  to  sustain  itself 
in  independence  of  the  ecclesiastical,  would  need  to  be  a 
power  exercised  with  no  ordinary  firmness  and  sagacity,  f 

Before  the  death  of  Edwy,  Edgar,  his  younger  brother,  Edgar-an 
had  taken  possession  of  Mercia.  He  now  became  king,  and  '•<^«'^- 
is  designated  in  history  as  '  the  peaceful.'  'Not  that  he  was 
incapable  of  military  enterprise,  nor  that  his  reign  passed 
away  without  an  unsheathing  of  the  sword.  But  Edgar, 
though  dissolute  enough  in  his  habits,  was  careful  to  profit 
by  the  experience  of  his  brother,  and  to  make  friends  of  the 
ecclesiastics.  He  did  much  also  to  conciliate  the  foreign 
settlers  in  Britain,  by  ceding  to  them  privileges  in  accord- 
ance with  their  national  usages.  Above  all,  he  raised  a 
powerful  navy  to  guard  the  shores  of  his  dominions.  His 
ships,  divided  into  several  armaments,  went  forth  every 
spring  to  protect  the  coast  against  further  descents  from  the 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  946  et  seq.  Florence  "Wigorn.  ad  an.  955-958,  Malms. 
de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  c.  7. 

\  For  the  Romanist  version  of  the  quarrel  between  Edwy  and  St.  Dunstan  see 
Dr.  Lingard  ;  for  a  more  faithful  version  of  the  affair  see  Lappenberg. 


150  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^c^HA?."'  vessels  of  the  IS'ortlimen.  The  king  himself  sailed  from 
year  to  year  with  them.  By  this  time  the  most  famous 
of  the  sea-kings  had  found  settlements  in  various  countries. 
The  north  was  more  quiet  than  it  had  been  for  some  genera- 
tions past.  And  such  adventurers  as  might  be  disposed 
towards  new  enterprises  were  taught  by  these  signs  of  prep- 
aration to  avoid  the  shores  of  Britain.  Edgar  was  a  man 
of  intelligence  and  firmness,  but  as  he  died  when  not  more 
than  thirty  years  of  age,  these  measures  warrant  us  in  sup- 
posing that  he  was  influenced  in  his  policy  by  heads  of 
more  experience  than  his  own.  In  the  ballad  literature  of 
the  time  he  was  lauded  as  the  most  powerful  king  that  Eng- 
land had  known.  "^ 

the  mLtyr.  Edgar  left  two  sons,  Edward  and  Ethelred  ;  the  first 
thirteen  years  of  age,  the  second  seven.  Factions,  civil  and 
ecclesiastical,  embroiled  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
Edward  '  the  Martyr.'  In  this  fact,  together  with  his  mur- 
der, at  the  bidding  of  his  step-mother  Elfrida,  while  refresh- 
ing himself  on  a  hunting  excursion  at  her  castle-gate,  we 
possess  nearly  all  we  know  concerning  this  ill-fated  prince. 
Corfe  Castle  became  memorable  from  this  deed.  Edward 
was  then  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age,  and  the  ■  third 
of  his  reign,  f 

Ethelred  Ethclrcd,  the  son  of  Elfrida,  was  now  the  only  remaining 

ready?  priuce  of  the  blood.  The  fact  that  he  was  the  son  of  the 
woman  who  had  murdered  his  predecessor  was  felt  as  a 
difficulty.  But  it  was  not  deemed  a  sufficient  ground  for  pre- 
cluding him  from  the  throne  at  the  hazard  of  a  civil  war. 
The  reign  which  had  thus  commenced  in  crime,  is  memo- 
rable for  its  shame  and  its  disasters.  K  man  could  overlook 
blood-guiltiness.  Providence  seemed  not  so  to  do.  The 
thirty-eight  years  during  which  Ethelred  was  king,  are 
more  full  of  suffering  and  humiliation  than  the  like  inter- 
val in  any  other  period  of  English  history. 

The  l^orthmen  begin  to  descend  anew  on  the  coast,  in 
greater  or  smaller  numbers,  from  year  to  year.     After  a 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d,  95*7  et  seq.  Florence  Wigorn.  ad  an.  960-9'75.  Malms. 
de  Reg.  lib.  ii,  c.  8.  There  is  much  in  the  reign  of  Edgar  that  seems  to  confirm 
the  account  in  Ingulf  of  the  high  capacity  and  influence  of  Turketul. 

f  Chron.  Sax.     Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  c.  9. 


RISE   OF  THE  DANISH   MONARCHY.  151 

while,  no  province,  from  the  Land's  End  to  the  Orkneys,  ^^^^  ^^^ 

or  from  East  Anglia  to  St.  Davids,  is  found  to  be  secure  from     

their  approach.  Everywhere  they  repeat  the  plunder,  the 
devastation,  and  the  merciless  destruction  of  human  life, 
which  had  marked  the  path  of  their  precursors  two  centu- 
ries since.  In  the  meanwhile  attempts  to  concentrate  the 
force  of  the  country  for  its  common  safety  are  so  feebly 
prosecuted,  and  are  so  easily  frustrated  by  local  factions 
and  selfish  considerations,  that  failure  follows  upon  failure 
in  sickening  succession.  Instances  of  individual  or  local 
coiirage  and  self-devotion  occur,  but  end  in  nothing,  from  . 
the  want  of  such  a  central  influence  as  might  secure  unity 
by  inspiring  confidence.  The  command  of  such  forces  as 
were  raised,  was  entrusted,  for  the  most  part,  to  men  who, 
from  their  Danish  origin,  their  Danish  connexions,  or  other 
causes,  betray,  one  after  another,  the  confidence  reposed  in 
them ;  and,  strange  to  say,  are  seen  rising  to  new  responsi- 
bilities only  to  repeat  their  old  treasons.  Cruel  to  the 
weak,  Ethelred  was  a  craven  before  the  strong.  Seasons 
that  should  have  been  employed  in  collecting  and  marshal- 
ling the  strength  of  his  kingdom,  w^ere  surrendered  to  selfish 
and  sensuous  indulgence.  Too  ready  was  he  to  believe 
that  the  enemy  with  whom  he  had  to  do  was  one  who  might 
be  bribed  to  seek  other  quarters,  or  at  least  into  forbearance 
and  quiet  as  settlers.  Large  sums  were  collected  for  this 
purpose,  from  time  to  time ;  but  the  oaths  exacted  from 
the  men  who  received  them  were  forgotten  almost  as  soon 
as  uttered.  By  this  wretched  policy  Ethelred  became  a  tool 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  by  whose  means  the  plunder  of 
his  own  subjects  was  made  more  easy  and  efiectual  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  possible. 

Twenty-four  years  had  passed  since  the  accession  of  M*^ng°' 
Ethelred,  and  the  greater  part  of  those  years  marked  by  the 
circumstances  above  mentioned,  when  the  king  resolved  on 
a  deed  which  lias  covered  him  with  infamy,  and  which, 
as  might  have  been  foreseen,  was  to  bring  heavy  retribu- 
tion in  its  train.  It  was  no  secret  that  the  Saxons  regarded 
the  Danes  resident  among  them  with  distrust  and  hatred. 
The  relation  of  these  people  to  the  common  enemy ;  and 


152  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^caS  ¥'  ^*^^^  more  the  fact  that  they  had  generally  shown  themselves 

much  more  disposed  to  favour  than  to  repel  the  invaders, 

had  given  a  special  intensity  to  the  feeling  ordinarily  sepa- 
rating race  from  race.  ^"^  Ethelred,  it  would  seem,  had 
ceased  to  expect  fidelity  from  this  class  of  his  subjects  ;  and, 
to  save  himself  from  the  machinations  of  traitors  within 
the  camp,  he  determined  that  an  attempt  should  be  made 
utterly  to  destroy  them. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1002  secret  orders  were  issued, 
that  on  the  aj)proaching  religious  festival  in  honour  of  St. 
Brice,  the  Saxons  should  fall  unawares  upon  the  Danes,  and 
put  them  to  death.  Tlie  orders  were  kept  secret ;  and  on 
the  appointed  day  the  massacre  ensued,  the  fury  of  the  pop- 
ulace in  many  places  adding  not  a  little  cruelty  to  the  work  of 
destruction.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Danes  must  have  num- 
bered at  this  time  nearly  a  third  of  the  inhabitants  of  Eng- 
land. We  may  be  sure,  therefore,  that  this  destruction  was 
rather  local  than  general.  It  has  been  thought  that  the 
Danes  whose  removal  was  meditated  were  those  only  who, 
as  retainers  to  the  nobles,  wore  arms,  and  who  had  so  often 
turned  the  arms  entrusted  to  them  to  traitorous  uses.  But 
if  such  was  the  limit  of  the  project,  in  execution  it  passed 
beyond  those  bounds.  Where  the  massacre  took  place, 
neither  sex  nor  age  was  spared.  Among  the  victims  was  a 
distinguished  J^orthman  named  Palig.  This  man  had 
repaid  the  bounty  of  Ethelred  by  fighting  under  the  stand- 
ard of  hiS'  enemies.  Palig  and  his  children  were  all  doomed 
to  die.  Gunhilda,  his  wife,  was  a  sister  of  Sweyn,  the  great 
Danish  chieftain  ;  and  in  submitting  with  heroic  dignity  to 
her  fate,  after  witnessing  the  death  of  her  husband  and  her 
son,  she  is  said  to  have  predicted  that  all  England  Avould 
have  ere  long  to  meet  a  weighty  reckoning  for  the  deeds  of 
that  day.  f 
Sweyn'sin-  The  ucxt  year  Sweyn  made  his  appearance  in  England 
vasion.        ^^  ^1^^  1^^^^   ^^  ^  powerful   army.     Exeter-,  through   the 

'treachery  of  its  commander,  passed  into  his  hands.     During 

*  Ulfkytel,  the  ruler  of  East  Anglia,  was  the  only  Dane  who,  in  the  lanj^uage 
of  Malmesbury,  '  resisted  the  invaders  with  any  degree  of  spirit,'  in  the  reign  of 
Ethelred.— i)e  Eeff.  lib.  ii.  c.  10. 

f  Chron.  Sax.    Florence  Wigorn.  ad  an.  1002.    Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  e.  10. 


RISE   OF  THE    DANISH  MONAUCHY.  153 

four  years,  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  some  fortified  ^^^^  J^ 

places,  was  wholly  at  his  mercy.     Everywhere  he  came  as     

an  avenger — not  only  to  plunder,  but  to  consume  by  fire, 
and  to  cut  down  with  the  sword.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth 
year  he  consented  to  leave  the  island  on  condition  of  receiv- 
ing thirty-six  thousand  pounds  of  silver  ;  and  that  sum  was 
paid  to  him. 

But  the  army  under  Sweyn  had  no  sooner  departed,  than  ind?r  Thur 
another,  no  less  ferocious,  appeared  under  Thurchil.  This  ^^^^ 
chief  affected  to  seek  vengeance  for  the  death  of  a  brother, 
as  Sweyn  had  sought  it  for  the  death  of  a  sister.  Another 
three  years  of  unchecked  exposure  to  Danish  spoliation  and 
cruelty  now  awaited  the  unhappy  country.  Elphege,  the 
good  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  doomed  to  see  the  peo- 
ple, the  town,  and  the  cathedral  of  Canterbury  destroyed  by 
these  demons,  and  then  to  perish  himself  by  their  hands, 
from  the  blows  inflicted  on  him  while  in  their  cups.  Could 
he  have  descended  to  save  his  life  by  paying  the  price  which 
had  been  fixed  upon  it,  he  might  have  been  spared.  Hav- 
ing ravaged  half  the  kingdom,  Thurchil  consented  to  enter 
the  service  of  Ethelred  for  the  sum  of  forty-eight  thousand 
pounds.  This  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  greater  part 
of  his  followers  showed  a  disposition  to  settle  in  the 
country. 

Sweyn  had  secretly  consented  to  this  invasion  by  Thur-  second  in- 

f^  'J  t/  vasion  oy 

chil.  But  it  did  not  accord  with  his  plans  that  the  result  ^weyn. 
should  be  of  this  nature.  He  had  sworn  on  the  death  of  his 
sister  to  possess  himself  of  the  sovereignty  of  England.  He 
now  collected  a  force  which  promised  to  be  equal  to  such  an 
enterprise.  The  splendour  as  well  as  the  greatness  of  this 
armament  was  a  favourite  theme  with  the  poets  of  the  age. 
The  northern  provinces  submitted  without  resistance,  and 
the  Danish  inhabitants  rendered  aid  to  their  countrymen. 
Marching  northward,  where  the  conqueror  expected  oppo- 
sition, his  instructions  were  that  the  towns  should  be  given 
to  the  flames,  that  the  churches  should  be  deprived  of 
everything  valuable,  and  that  every  male  should  be  put  to 
the  sword.  And  these  mandates  were  fully  acted  upon. 
Ethelred  and  Thurchil  shut  themselves  up  within  the  walls 


164 


SAXONS   AND  DANES. 


^cSS. "'  ^^  London,  which  held  out  against  every  stratagem  of  the 
besiegers.  But  in  all  other  directions  the  approach  of  the 
ISTorthmen  scared  away  resistance. 

ciSmm-         Sweyn  retired  to  Bath.     He  there  proclaimed  himself 

self  king,  j^jj^g  ^£  England,  and  summoned  the  chief  men  of  Wessex 
to  meet  him  in  that  place,  and  to  swear  allegiance  to  him. 
Even  the  capital  began  to  waver  in  its  fidelity ;  so  that 
Ethelred  s.ent  his  family  to  E'ormandy,  and  sought  conceal- 
ment himself  in  the  isle  of  "Wight.  But  in  less  than  a 
month  from  the  time  when  the  prospects  of  the  English  mon- 
arch had  become  thus  gloomy,  Sweyn  died.  Sweyn  named 
his  son  Canute  as  his  successor.  The  English  rallied  around 
Ethelred,  and  Canute  was  obliged  to  make  a  precipitate  re- 
treat from  the  country. 

Canute"  ^^  ^^^  ^^^  followiug  year  Canute  returned,  with  a  fleet  and 
army  described  in  glowing  terms  by  ancient  writers.  Thur- 
chil  had  sought  his  pardon,  and  had  obtained  it.  But 
Ethelred  the  '  Unready  '  had  done  nothing  to  prepare  him- 
self for  this  exigency.  The  vengeance  he  took  on  the  natu- 
ralized ]N"orthmen,  both  by  sword  and  by  assassination, 
only  added  to  the  dangers  of  his  position.  Edmund,  wearied 
apparently  by  this  incompetency,  assumed  independence  of 
his  father  ;  but  failed  to  collect  a  force  sufficient  to  warrant 
his  attempting  to  measure  his  strength  with  the  enemy.  Tlie 
army  of  Edmund  quartered  itself  in  the  northern  counties, 
while  that  under  Canute  roamed  unimpeded  through  the 
south.  Aifairs  had  come  to  this  pass  when  Ethelred  breatlied 
his  last  in  London.  Edmund,  who  was  with  him  in  his 
sickness,  was  proclaimed  king  by  the  citizens."^ 

brave'?e-^  Had  Edmuud  become  king  of  England  some  forty  years 

earlier,  in  the  place  of  his  father,  it  is  probable  that  in  him 
the  peaceful  and  prosperous  reign  of  Edgar  would  have  been 
perpetuated.  Tlie  resources  of  the  country  at  that  time  would 
have  sufficed,  under  proper  management,  to  have  kept  the 
JSTorthmen  at  bay ;  and  free  action  being  thus  secured  to  the 
springs  of  internal  prosperity,  England  might  have  known 
nothing  of  a  Danish  dynasty,  or  of  a  Norman  conquest. 

*  Chron.  Sax.     Flor.  Wigorn.     Malms,  de  Beg.  ii.  c.  10.     Hunting,  v.  205, 
206.     Westmin.  201,  202. 


sistance  of 
the  Danes 
under 
Canute. 


EISE  OF  THE  DANISH  MONARCHY.  155 

So  general  and  so  deep  was  the  distrust  of  Ethelred  during  book  ii. 
the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  that  the  national  spirit  appear-  — '—' 
ed  to  have  become  extinct.  The  Northmen  had  learned  to 
despise  the  natives,  even  when  ten  to  one.  But  with  the 
accession  of  Edmund  the  most  inert  became  active,  and  a 
people  who  seemed  to  have  lost  all  heart  are  seen  rising 
into  heroism. 

London  alone  had  been  strong  enough  to  resist  the  invad- 
er. Canute  now  invested  it  with  an  army  of  twenty-seven 
thousand  men.  But  Edmund  passed  through  the  enemies' 
ships  in  a  boat  by  night.  His  call  to  the  men  of  Wessex 
brought  great  numbers  to  his  standard.  Canute,  leaving  a 
division  of  his  forces  to  watch  the  metropolis,  marched  at 
the  head  of  a  powerful  army  to  meet  the  king.  The  two 
competitors  faced  each  other  at  a  place  called  Scearston.  Battle  of 

riM         1         1  T       '  ^  .1  Ti'T         Scearston. 

ihe  battle  was  most  obstmately  sustamed  on  both  sides. 
It  lasted  the  whole  day.  The  next  morning  it  was  renewed. 
In  this  second  conflict  Edmund  caught  sight  of  Canute. 
Rushing  towards  him,  his  battle-axe  fell  on  the  shield  of 
the  Dane  with  such  force  as  to  divide  it  asunder,  and  to 
wound  his  horse  in  the  shoulder.  Canute  owed  his  life  to 
the  number  of  his  followers  who  chanced  to  be  on  the  spot. 
In  this  pending  state  of  the  struggle,  Edric,  a  false  Saxon, 
struck  off  the  head  of  a  slain  warrior,  and  raising  it  aloft, 
cried  to  the  English,  '  See  the  head  of  Edmund  your  king.' 
For  a  moment  the  dismay  intended  to  be  produced  by  this 
stratagem  became  visible.  But  Edmund  darted  to  an  emi- 
nence, removed  his  helmet,  and  raising  his  voice  to  reassure 
his  men,  restored  their  confidence.  The  darkness  of  the 
second  night  came,  and  the  combatants  were  still  upon  the 
field.  But  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day  it  was  manifest 
that  the  greater  loss  had  been  on  the  side  of  the  Danes ; 
and  Canute,  to  recruit  his  forces,  began  to  retrace  his  steps 
towards  London. 

Edmund  followed  without  delay.  At  Brentford  a  second 
engagement  took  place,  in  which  the  advantage  was  with 
the  Danes  ;  but  in  the  third  engagement,  near  Oxford,  the 
Xorthmen  were  signally  defeated.  Canute  now  raised  the 
siege  of  London,  and  passed  from  the  Isle  of  Sheppey  into 


156 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 

Chap.  5. 


Compro- 
mise be- 
tween Ed- 
mund and 
Camito. 


Canute  be- 
comes king 
of  England. 


Retrospect. 


East  Anglia,»  ravaging  tlie  country  in  his  way  northward. 
Edmund  was  again  upon  his  path.  At  Ashdown  (Assing- 
don)  another  engagement  took  place.  The  Danes  knew 
their  condition  to  be  perilous.  To  raise  their  couragCj 
Thurchil  assured  them  that  the  omen  from  the  flight  of  the 
raven  had  been  eminently  propitious.  The  traitor  Edric, 
strange  to  say,  was  again  in  command,  and  was  the  first  to 
fly.*  Edmund,  and  the  faithful  among  his  followers,  fought 
the  whole  day.  The  moon  had  risen  for  some  hours  before 
the  deadly  strife  reached  its  close.  On  the  morrow  Edmund 
found  that  his  losses,  especially  among  the  men  of  rank,  on 
whom  he  had  most  reason  to  depend,  had  been  alarmingly 
great.  He  retreated  into  Gloucestershire ;  Canute  followed, 
and  another  desperate  encounter  would  have  taken  place, 
had  not  the  partisans  of  the  two  leaders  prevailed  on  them 
to  agree  to  a  compromise. 

In  the  adjustment  made,  the  part  of  England  south  of 
the  Thames  was  assigned  to  Edmund,  that  to  the  north  fell 
to  Canute.  Only  a  few  weeks  later,  Edmund  perished  by 
the  hand  of  an  assassin.  Canute  profited  by  this  event, 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was  privy  to  it.  "Why  Ed- 
mund: was  called  the  '  Ironside '  is  uncertain.  The  name 
was  manifestly  a  fitting  one,  for  his  short  experience  of  sov- 
ereignty, which  required  him  to  be  prompt  in  putting  on 
his  armour,  never  allowed  him  to  put  it  off.f 

Canute  now  became  king  of  England,  and  two  men  of 
his  race,  Harald  and  Hardicanute,  succeeded  him  in  that 
dignity.  The  sovereignty  then  returned  to  the  Saxon  line 
in  the  person  of  Edward  the  Confessor ;  and  in  its  next 
change  it  passed  to  the  Norman  line,  through  Harold. 
From  the  battle  of  Hastings  we  date  a  new  epoch  in  Eng- 
lish history. 

We  have  thus  taken  our  retrospect  of  the  Revolutions 
.effected  by  the  Sword  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain.  Its  first 
great  achievement  we  find  in  the  '  Migration,'  which  trans- 
ferred the  lands  of  England  from  the  Celt  to  the  Saxon. 

*  This  Edric  appears  to  have  been  a  singularly  gifted  villain,  but  he  at  length 
met  with  his  reward  from  the  hand  of  Canute.     I'lor.  Wigorn.  ad  an.  1007-lOlY. 

f  Chron.  Sax.  Flor.  Wigorn.  Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  c.  10.  Lappenberg, 
ii.  18'7-193. 


RISE   OF   THE    DANISH    MONARCHY.  loT 

The  second  we  see  in  those  wars  of  the  Heptarchy  which  book  ii. 
issued  in  the  concentration  of  the  sovereignty  in  the  house  — - 
of  Cerdic.  The  third  is  before  us  in  the  effect  of  the  Danish 
invasions,  which  favoured  the  centralization  of  the  sove- 
reignty by  falling  with  much  more  disastrous  effect  on  N^orth- 
umbria  and  Mercia  than  on  "Wessex,  and  by  pointing  to 
the  advantage  of  a  common  centre  in  that  quarter.  At  the 
same  time,  we  see  in  these  invasions  a  grand  impediment  to 
the  social  progress  that  might  otherwise  have  been  realized. 

During  the  iirst  two  centuries  after  the  landing  of  the 
Saxons,  the  wars  of  the  Heptarchy  are  the  great  bar  in  the 
way  of  social  improvement.  During  the  two  centuries 
which  follow,  the  Danes  become  the  great  hindrance. 
Tliese  facts  cover  nearly  the  whole  space  between  the  landing 
of  Hengist  and  the  invasion  by  the  Duke  of  ]N"ormandy. 
The  intervals  of  comparative  quiet  and  security  are  few, 
and  of  short  duration.  The  cliaracteristic  features  of  the  pe- 
riod are  unsettledness,  danger,  and  suffering. 

If  we  except  the  affair  of  the  Pretender  in  1T45,  it  is  Ancient 

■*-   ^  ^  '  and  modern 

now  two  centuries  since  England  has  seen  war.  How  sig-  England, 
nificant  the  contrast  between  the  face  of  this  same  country 
during  these  two  centuries,  and  during  the  two  which  pre- 
ceded the  reign  of  Egbert,  or  of  the  two  which  followed ! 
Tlie  land  which  was  as  a  perpetual  battle-field  for  ages,  has 
ceased  through  two  hundred  years  to  see  a  soldier,  except  on 
parade.  In  this  difference  we  see  the  effect,  not  only  of  a 
better  consolidated  monarchy,  but  of  the  better  constitu- 
tional precautions  by  which  the  interests  of  society  are 
guarded  against  the  accidents  of  character  in  the  person  of 
the  sovereign.  The  "Witan  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  seemed  to 
exercise  a  weighty  function  on  the  demise  of  a  king,  and  on 
some  other  occasions.  But  the  king  being  once  invested 
with  the  supreme  power,  the  character  of  the  man  deter- 
mined the  character  of  the  times.  The  great  want  was,  not 
only  that  there  should  be  a  central  and  supreme  authority, 
but  that  the  authority  so  recognised  should  have  been  better 
defined,  better  aided,  regulated,  and  guarded,  and,  as  the 
consequence,  better  obeyed.  But  the  due  subordination 
of  the  less  to  the  greater,  of  the  factious  to  the  patriotic,  be- 


158  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

BOOK  iL  longs  only  to  that  advanced  stage  in  the  political  education 

of  a  people  which  comes  from  experience — the  experience 

of  generations  and  centuries.  Of  course,  underneath  the 
changes  before  us  on  the  surface  of  Anglo-Saxon  history,' 
there  were  the,  differences  of  race,  of  religion,  and  of  usage, 
ever  seething,  and  contributing  their  restless  influences  to 
one  phase  of  change  after  another.  How  far  these  differ- 
ences were  softened  by  Christianity,  and  by  other  causes, 
so  as  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  England  of  the  future,  we 
have  still  to  inquire. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EFFECT  OF   THE   SAXOIS^  AIS^D  DANISH  CONQUESTS   ON   THE 
DISTRIBUTIONS    OF   EACE. 


T 


HE   strifes  which  come  so  constantly  to  the  surface  of     cuap.  e. 

Anglo-Saxon  history  had  their  roots  far  beneath.  They  Results 
were  not  effects  without  causes.  The  effects  seem  to  indi-  differences 
cate  that  the  causes  were  pervading  and  of  much  force,  and 
such  was  the  fact.  The  great  cause  we  no  doubt  find  in  the 
differences  of  race,  and  in  the  other  differences  consequent 
on  that  difference.  The  two  great  lines  of  distinction  in  this 
respect  were  those  which  separated — ^first  between  the  Saxon 
and  the  Briton,  and  then  between  the  Saxons,  the  Britons 
and  the  Danes.  But  there  were  lesser  lines  of  separation 
beneath  these,  which  tended  in  their  measure  to  impart  to 
the  story  of  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  the  complexion  under 
which  it  is  known  to  us. 

On  the  differences  of  this  nature  which  obtained  amon^  Diversities 
the  Teutons  who  were  the  founders  of  the  English  Hep  tar-  among  the 
chy,  we  shall  allow  the  venerable  Bede  to  speak.     '  From  sax'ons. 
the  Jutes,'  he  writes,  '  sprang  the  men  of  Kent,  and  the 
Wihtware,  the  tribe  which  now  dwelleth  in  the  Isle   of 
Wight,  and  the  other  tribe  in  the  country  of  the  East  Sax- 
on opposite  to  the  *Isle  of  Wight,  whom  men  still  call  by 
the  name  of  the  hundred  of  the  Jutes.     From  the  Saxons, 
that  is  to  say,  from  the  land  now  called  the  country  of  the 
Old  Saxons,  descended  the  East  Saxons,  the  South  Saxons, 
and  the  West  Saxons.     From  the  Angles,  that  is  to  say, 
from  the  country  called  Anglia  (Anglen),  and  which  from 
that  time  till  now  is  said  to  have  remained  waste,  between 
the  provinces  of  the  Jutes  and  the  Old  Saxons,  descended 


sities, 


160  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^Cn^  ?.'  ^^^®  -^^^^  Angles,  the  Mercians,  tlie  race  of  the  ITorthumbri- 
ans,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  nations  of  England.'  * 

th?se^dfve?-^  It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  description  precedence  in  re- 
gard to  extent  of  territory,  and,  in  consequence,  witji  regard 
to  numbers,  is  assigned  to  the  Angles,  who  took  possession 
of  the  north  and  north-west  portion  of  the  island.  The 
next  position  is  assigned  to  the  Saxons,  who  gave  the  name 
of  '  Saxon '  to  their  several  territories  in  the  south  and  south- 
east. To  the  Jutes  falls  the  smallest  space,  and  the  smallest 
influence.  These  tribes  possessed  much  in  common,  but 
they  were  distinguished  from  each  other  in  many  respects 
— in  dialect,  in  customs,  in  personal  qualities.  Many  traces 
of  these  diversities  are  still  perceptible  in  the  several  terri- 
tories which  they  respectively  occupied.  It  is  probable 
that  along  with  these  '  three  tribes'  there  were  considerable 
admixtures  of  Frisians,  Franks,  and  even  Longobards,f 
though  not  to  such  extent  as  to  be  readily  traced  by  us  at 
this  distance  of  time.  /The  differences  between  these  settlers 
— ^in  speech,  in  physiognomy,  in  complexion,  in  the  colour 
of  the  eyes  and  hair,  and  in  dress  and  manners,  were  prob- 
ably much  stronger  than  we  are  disposed  to  imagine. 
Many  of  the  physical  diversities  still  observable  among  us, 
though  much  softened  by  time,  have  descended  from  this 
source.  Hence,  too,  many  varieties  in  customs,  such  as  the 
difference  between  the  Wapentake  of  Yorkshire,  and  the 
Hundred  of  Sussex.:]: 

No  thoughtful  man  will  suppose  that  these  varieties 
could  exist  without  awakening  more  or  less  of  a  spirit  of 
clannish  pride  and  rivalry ;  and  we  need  not  attempt  to 
show  what  the  effect  of  such  passions  has  generally  been 
among  such  communities.  The  history  of  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  down  to  comparatively  recent  times,  furnishes 
ample  illustration  on  this  point.     Hence,  in  great  part,  the 

*  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  15. 

f  Procopius,  de  Bello  Gothico,  iv,  20,  93  et  seq.     Palgrave,  i.  c.  2. 

\  In  the  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  legislation  frequent  reference  is  made,  down 
to  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  to  the  diiferenees  between  Wessex-law, 
Mercian-law,  and  Danish-law.  Each  people  had  their  peculiar  usj^gcs,  which  were 
recognised  and  respected  on  such  occasions.  See  Laws  of  Alfred  and  Gothrun^ 
and  Laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  Edgar's  laws  recognise  distinctions  of  this 
nature  between  Kentishmen,  and  South  Angles,  and  North  Angles. 


NEW   DISTRIBUTIONS    OF,  RACE.  161 

absence  of  all  combination  between  the  different  states  of   book  ii. 

.  .  Chap,  6. 

the  Heptarchy,  whether  in  opposing  the  incursions  of  the     

Britons  along  the  western  side  of  their  territory,  or  of  the 
Scots  alone:  the  northern  side.  As  the  wars  carried  on  with 
those  foes  subsided,  internal  feuds,  from  other  causes,  came 
into  more  vigorous  action,  and  served  to  impose  a  long  suc- 
cession of  checks  on  all  tendencies  towards  unity  and  im- 
provement. 

Much  has  been  written  concerning  the  supposed  effect  If^,';!,  ^1}^'" 
of  the  Saxon  invasion  on  the  Britons.  The  fact  that  the  Jhe7o"ca5o:i 
Britons  kept  together  along  nearly  the  whole  of  the  western  BritlThs. 
side  of  the  island,  from  Cumberland  to  Cornwall,  and  the 
small  traces  of  the  British  tongue  along  the  parallel  territory 
on  the  eastern  side  of  that  line,  would  seem  to  suggest  that 
the  effect  of  this  memorable  collision  was,  that  the  natives 
relinquished  the  one  half  of  their  land  entirely  to  the  in- 
vader, but  retained  firm  hold  on  the  other  half.  It  is  not 
probable,  however,  that  the  population  of  any  of  the  Saxon 
states  was  without  a  considerable  admixture  of  British 
blood.  The  keels  of  the  Saxon  freebooters  can  hardly  be 
supposed  to  have  brought  settlers  in  sufficient  numbers,  and 
of  both  sexes,  to  warrant  such  an  opinion.  Greatly  more 
was  done  ere  long  upon  the  soil  than  can  be  explained  on 
such  a  supposition.  That  a  large  admixture  of  this  kind 
took  place  along  the  border  lands  which  separated  between 
the  two  races  is  unquestionable.  In  the  south  and  east, 
where  the  deteriorating  effects  of  the  Koman  civilization 
were  the  most  deeply  rooted,  the  Saxons  found  the  portion 
of  the  natives  most  habituated  to  submission.  The  most 
energetic,  no  doubt,  sought  a  new  home  westward  or  north- 
ward, rather  than  submit  to  the  new  masters :  but  the  more 
passive  would  often  cling  to  the  soil  on  any  tolerable  con- 
ditions. 

Then,  concerning  language,  the  difference  between  the 
two  races  in  this  respect  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been 
much  exaggerated.  According  to  Caesar,  Britain  was  largely 
peopled  from  Belgic  Gaul,  and  not  less  than  one-third  of 
the  vocabulary  of  the  Cymric  tongue  is  said  to  consist  of 

Vol.  I.— 11 


162  S4X0NS    AND   DANES. 

^^OK  11.  words  derived  from  roots  common  to  it  and  to  the  Bel- 

Chap.  6. 

gic.^ 

These  affinities  between  the  Cymric  and  the  Saxon,  if 
existing  to  anything  like  this  extent,  are  enough  to  suggest 
that  it  may  not  be  easy  to  say  how  far  the  one  has  really 
superseded  the  other.  That  in  England,  the  Welsh  has 
been  to  a  very  large  extent  superseded  by  the  Saxon  is  cer- 
tain ;  and  we  conclude,  in  consequence,  that  the  Britons 
who  dwelt  amidst  the  conquering  Saxons  must  have  borne 
a  small  proportion  in  influence  or  numbers  to  the  race 
which  had  subdued  them.  But  that  the  Saxons  were  alive 
to  the  uses  that  might  be  made  of  the  vanquished  natives 
is  not  only  in  the  highest  degree  probable  from  the  facts  of 
the  case,  but  manifest  from  the  records  of  history.  It 
should  be  remembered,  that  considerable  spaces  intervened 
between  the  establishment  of  one  Saxon  state  and  another, 
so  that  the  natives  would  know,  as  resistance  became  hope- 
less, what  was  to  be  expected  from  submission. 

So  late  as  the  year  900,  the  Britons  of  the  West,  that  is, 
of  the  counties  of  Somerset,  Wilts,  Dorset,  Devon,  and 
Cornwall,  joined  their  forces  with  the  Danes  against  Egbert. 
Their  princes  were  then  finally  prostrated,  and  the  chief 
authority  in  those  parts  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  West- 
Saxon  thanes.  But  the  name  of  '  Weal-cynne,'  by  which 
those  counties  are  designated  in  the  will  of  Alfred,  shows 
that  the  population  remained  for  the  most  part  British. 
Even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Athelstan,  Exeter,  the  capital 
of  the  Dumnonii  from  times  preceding  the  conquest  by  the 
Romans,  was  governed  by  the  joint  authority  of  Britons 
and  Saxons  ;  but  from  the  age  of  that  monarch,  the  inde- 
pendent power  of  the  Britons  of  the  West  was  confined  to 
Cornwall,  where  the  old  Celtic  has  been  the  vernacular  lan- 
guage of  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants  almost  to  jour  own 
duy.  The  names  of  the  leading  men  in  the  above  counties, 
as  preserved  in  Domesday^  are  none  of  them  British,  and 
the  English  law  had  then  become  connnon  to  them  all,  at 
the  same  time  it  is  certain  that  the  English  speech  was  still 
unknown  to  the  main  body  of  the  people.'f 

*  Palgrave,  i.  27. 

f  Palgrave,  i.  410,  411.     Proofs  and  Illustrations,  243,  244.     In  fact,  the 


NEW   DISTRIBUTIONS   OF   RACE.  163 

Aloiiff  the  east  coast  we  discover  few  or  no  traces  of  the  ^poK  n. 

°  Chap.  6. 

British.     The  population  in  those  regions    is  more  purely     

Saxon  than  in  any  other  part  of  Saxon  Britain  down  to  the 
time  of  the  Danish  invasions.  Of  the  footing  retained  by 
the  Britons  along  the  Welsh  side  of  the  Bristol  Channel, 
through  Gloucestershire,  Herefordshire,  and  Shropshire  into 
Cheshire,  we  need  not  speak.  Northward  from  that  point 
the  old  British  element  spreads  more .  or  less  for  a  while 
from  west  to  east. 

We  say  little  on  the  vexed   question  concerning  the  j^^^®  j^"?^«' 
origin  and  history  of  the  Picts  and  Scots.     We  have  seen  J^^*^  pf/t' 
that  the  Angles  were  stubbornly  resisted  in  their  endeav-  f^^l^^. 
ours  to  possess  themselves  of  the  ample  territory  between  ^™^"*- 
the  Humber  and  the  Forth.     The  Humber  formed  the  bor- 
der line  of  the  southern  division  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
iNTorthumbria,  as  the  Forth  was  the  boundary  of  the  north- 
ern division.     The  population  of  that  kingdom  was  made 
up  of  four  nations — Angles,  Britons,  Picts,  and  Scots.     The 
last  three  nations,  in  common  with  the  first,  were  governed 
by  their  own  chiefs  or  princes  ;  and  when  the  chief  of  the 
Angles  was  strong,  these  chiefs  paid  him  tribute ;  whei;i 
that  prince  happened  to  be  weak,  they  asserted  their  inde- 
pendence.     These    peoples    were    often    subdued    by    the 
Angles,  but  never  more  than  partially  displaced.     In  the 
northern  half  of  Northumbria  the  Picts  and  Scots  were  the 
most  numerous  ;  in  the  southern  half,  the  Angles  -were  the 

names  of  places  in  England  are  much  more  of  an  old  British  origin  than  is  com- 
monly supposed,  and  warrant  a  strong  conclusion  as  to  the  presence  of  the  British 
with  the  Saxons  to  the  latest  period  of  Anglo-Saxon  history.  If  there  be  any 
word  that  we  are  wont  to  account  as  certainly  of  Saxon  origin  it  is  the  word  ford, 
as  a  termination  in  the  names  of  places — such  as  Brad/ore?,  Stafford.  But  it  is 
singular  that  this  word  does  not  occur  in  the  names  of  places  in  those  countries 
from  which  our  Saxons  and  Northmen  came.  Other  names,  which  they  gave  with 
frequency  to  places  in  this  island,  occur  as  often  in  the  countries  on  the  shores 
of  the  Baltic.  But  it  is  not  thus  with  the  word  ford.  In  the  British  tongue,  how- 
ever, we  have  the  word  fordd  or  ford,  denoting  a  road  or  passage  ;  and  the  fact 
would  seem  to  be  that  the  word  was  adopted  from  the  Britons,  but  with  a  some- 
what restricted  appUeation  to  roads  where  they  cross  streams  or  rivers.  We 
scarcely  need  say  that  the  British  influence  must  have  been  great  which  sufficed 
to  ensure  the  continuance  of  local  names  at  all  upon  this  scale. — See  Barnes's 
JHotes  on  Britain  and  the  Britons. 

Names  ending  in  combe — a  valley,  and  in  loai/  or  wye — water,  are  evidently 
of  British  origin.  Shakespeare  is  an  Englishman,  but  the  river's  name  with  which 
his  own  is  associated,  Avon,  is  old  British.  '  The  men  of  Arvon  [Avon]  with 
their  ruddy  lances.' — Ancient  Laws  of  Wales,  p.  50. 


164:  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cSif.  ?*  ^os*  powerful  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  hills  of  Cumberland 
and  Yorkshire,  the  Britons  on  the  western  side.  These  com- 
parative numbers,  moreover,  and  these  relations  to  territory, 
appear  to  have  remained  much  the  same,  as  regarded  the 
population,  amidst  all  the  revolutions  of  power  among  those 
who  affected  to  govern  them.  The  Britons  of  Cumbria,  of 
Cambria,  and  of  the  West,  with  their  chain  of  military  sta- 
tions, reaching  from  the  rock  of  Dumbarton  to  Mount  St. 
Michael,  have  left  traces  of  their  blood  and  language  along 
the  whole  of  that  distance.  The  ancient  Cumber  survives  in 
the  modern  Cumberland^- which  means  the  country  of  the 
Cymry,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  written,  the  Cumry.  From 
the  Clyde  to  the  Dee  the  Cumry  were  once  the  prevalent 
race.  Even  the  power  of  Athelstan  was  not  sufficient  to 
awe  them  into  subjection.  They  fought  against  him  at 
Brunanburgh — showing,  in  that  instance,  as  the  Britons 
generally  did,  a  greater  disposition  to  side  with  the  Danes 
than  with  the  Saxons.  In  the  West,  extending  from  Som- 
erset to  Cornwall,  the  characteristics  of  the  British  were 
gradually  effaced  by  the  ascendency,  first  of  the  Saxons,  and 
afterwards  of  the  Normans.  In  Cumbria  the  same  change 
must  be  attributed  to  infusions  from  the  Angles  and  the 
Scots,  but  more  especially  to  an  invasion  of  the  province  by . 
the  Scandinavians  in  the  tenth  century.  From  the  moun- 
tains of  Wales  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Cumry  have 
seen  their  brethren  in  the  west  and  north  melt  away  in  the 
great  stream  of  mingling  populations,  while  they  have 
themselves  retained  their  old  Celtic  speech,  and  their  old 
features  of  Celtic  nationality. 
Location  of  We  havo  sccu  the  extent  to  which  the  Danes  became 
in  England,  posscssors  of  tlic  English  territory.  In  876  Ilalfdene,  the 
ISTorthman,  divided  Northumbria  among  his  followers,  who 
soon  became  cultivators  of  the  soil  which  had  so  fallen  to 
them.  Tlie  treaty  of  Alfred  with  Guthorm  j)laced  East 
Anglia — including  JSTorfolk,  Suffolk,  Cambridge,  the  Isle  of 
Ely,  a  portion  of  Bedfordshire,  and  parts  adjacent — in  the 
hands  of  that  chief,  to  be  holden  by  him  and  his  descend- 
ants in  subordination  to  Wessex.  Mercia — the  territory  of 
the  great  Offa — ^became  a  prey  to  these  invaders,  who  at 


NEW   DISTRIBUTIONS    OF   RACE.  165 

length  gave  stability  to  their  acquisitions  in  that  quarter  book  ii. 

by  the  power  which  they  concentrated  in  the  Five  Danish     

burgs — ^viz.  Lincoln,  Nottingham,  Derby,  Leicester,  and 
Stamford.  Some  make  these  burgs  to  be  seven,  including 
York  and  Chester.  So  some  three-fourths  of  Anglo-Saxon 
Britain  came  to  be,  in  a  political  sense,  and  for  a  time, 
Danish,  the  ruling  power  over  that  large  surface  of  country- 
having  passed  into  the  hands  of  that  people.  The  Angles, 
the  Britons,  and  the  Scots  in  those  territories  were  all  nu- 
merous, much  more  numerous  than  the  Danes ;  but  the 
Danes,  who  found  settlements  among  them,  had  been  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  subdue  them.  We  have  seen  that  there 
were  many  oscillations  of  power  between  these  new  con- 
querors and  the  conquered  ;  but  that  the  Danes  were  con- 
querors to  this  extent,  and  possessed  such  sway,  though 
only  for  a  season,  is  a  fact  that  must  have  had  much  in- 
fluen  e  on  the  future.  The  policy  of  Alfred,  when  he  had 
saved  Wessex,  was  to  cede  to  the  Danes,  upon  conditions, 
the  territories  they  had  won,  and  to  do  all  that  might  be 
done  towards  amalgamating  the  different  races  into  one 
people. 

Throus'h  all  these  influences  the  Danish  blood  in  Eno;-  General 

o  ^  CI    distribution 

land  be  ame  the  most  prevalent  in  East  Anglia ;  next, 
along  the  eastern  coast  between  the  Humber  and  the  Forth ; 
and  next,  in  the  midland  counties,  forming  the  kingdom  of 
Mercia.  In  the  west,  the  admixture  was  between  the  Sax- 
ons and  the  British.  In  all  the  lands  to  the  north  and 
north-west,  it  consisted  in  a  large  displacement  of  the  Brit- 
ish element  by  the  Anglian  and  Danish. 

All  these  facts,  it  will  be  seen,  related  to  the  position  of 
the  Danes  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  before  the  accession  of 
Canute.  Tlie  formidable  invasions  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded that  event,  and  the  event  itself,  of  course  added  much, 
both  in  the  way  of  numbers  and  influence,  to  the  Danish 
power  in  this  country  before  the  Conquest. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth  century  a  powerful  f^^l^^f^ 
l^orwegian  migration  appears  to  have  set  in,  with  little  J^J^anJ" 
noise,  but  with  much  steadiness  and  effect,  on  Cumberland  ^^"^°^^' 
and  the  parts  adjoining.     We  have  reason  to  suppose  that 


166  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cL^?.  "*  *^^^  migration  did  not  pass  the  Yorkshire  hills  from  the 

east.     Its  approach  appears  to  have  been  by  means  of  the 

Irish  sea,  and  the  Isle  of  Man,  from  the  west.  But  so  con- 
siderable was  this  movement  at  the  time  mentioned,  that  the 
traces  of  the  Celtic  population  in  those  parts  in  the  times 
which  follow,  are  few  and  faint,  while  the  traces  of  the  Scan- 
dinavian, in  the  names  of  places  and  other  remains,  are  still 
found  almost  everywhere.  The  link  which  had  connected 
the  Celts  of  the  hill  country  of  Wales  with  those  of  the  hill 
country  of  Scotland,  was  thus  displaced  ;  and  the  blood  of 
the  Northmen,  either  Danes  or  Saxons,  became  the  domi- 
nant blood  along  the  whole  of  the  lowlands  between  the 
Mersey  and  the  Clyde.  Names  ending  in  thwaite^^  5y,  and 
thorp^\  are  of  very  frequent  occurrence  over  that  district ; 
and  all  these  are  of  Scandinavian  origin.  But  then  they 
mingle  freely  with  names  ending  in  ton^  ham^  and  worth, 
which  are  of  Saxon  origin.  So  it  is  over  a  great  part  of 
England  :  and,  though  the  Saxon  and  the  Danish  languages 
included  much  in  common,  the  prevalence  of  such  names 
from  the  one  or  the  other  of  those  languages  in  a  district, 
may  be  taken  as  a  pretty  certain  indication  of  the  preva- 
lence of  race  in  that  locality  before  the  Conquest.:^ 

The  Northmen  who  made  their  descent  from  the  Solway 
on  the  shores  of  Cumberland,  were  probably  of  the  same 
stock  with  those  who,  about  the  same  time,  had  secured  a 
footing  in  Pembrokeshire.  Tlie  names  Wilford  and  Haver- 
ford,  can  hardly  have  been  of  Saxon  origin.     Tlie  localities 

*  '  Thwaite :  Norwegian  thveit,  Danish  tved.  This  is  one  of  the  most  charac- 
teristic terms  of  our  district,  occurring  the  most  frequently  in  Cumberland,  which 
has  about  a  hundred  names  in  which  it  appears ;  being  also  very  common  in 
Westmoreland,  becoming  scarce  as  we  advance  into  Yorkshire,  and  ceasing  alto- 
gether when  we  arrive  at  the  more  purely  Danish  district  of  Lincoln.' — The 
Northmen  in  Cumherlanct  and  Westmoreland^  by  Robert  Ferguson,  1856.  The 
term  thwaite  was  used  to  denote  a  '  clearing,'  and  occurs  most  frequently  where 
there  was  much  wood  to  be  cleared.  In  Norway  itself  it  occurs  in  some  places 
more  than  others ;  in  many  instances  in  our  Lake  districts,  the  term  and  its  prefix 
have  been  transplanted  from  the  mother  country,  as  the  names  of  places  in  Eng- 
land reappear  in  the  United  States. 

\  By  is  a  termination  denoting  a  dwelling-place^  or  home,  and  is  more  Danish 
than  Norwegian  ;  the  same  may  be  said  of  thorp,  which  denotes  a  village. 

:}:  The  Cumberland  Britons,  pressed  by  the  Saxons  and  Northmen,  seem  to 
have  retired  by  degrees  into  Wales,  leaving  little  trace  of  themselves  behind, 
except  in  some  Celtic  names  of  places  which  have  survived  them.  There  is  noth- 
ing Celtic  among  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  district. 


NEW   DISTRIBUTIONS   OF   EACE.  16T 

do  not  answer  to  the  Saxon  use  of  the  term/<9rtZ — but  these  book  il 
places  are  truly  described  by  the  Norse  word  Jidrd^w\nQ\i     — '-' 
denotes  an  arm  of  the  sea.     Tlie  word  hohn,  too,  applied  to 
the  Flsit-hoh7i  and  the  Steei^-holm,  in  the  Bristol  Channel,  is 
not  the  Saxon  nor  the  British,  but  the  IS'orwegian  name  for 
island/'^ 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  then,  that  Saxons  and  I^orthmen 
were  related  as  branches  to  one  parent  stem  :  and,  what  is 
more,  that  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  IS'ormans,  who  were 
destined  to  .become  so  blended  on  our  soil  with  both.  But 
the  ]^orthman  had  come  as  an  intruder  on  the  ground  of 
the  Saxon  ;  and  this  fact  was  fatal  to  the  unity  that  might 
have  enabled  them  to  resist  the  next  invader,  to  whom  they 
were  both  to  become  subject.  It  is  clear  that  the  strength 
of  the  Banish  element  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  was  great — • 
much  greater  than  is  commonly  apprehended ;  and  disas- 
trous in  many  respects  as  was  the  collision  between  the  two 
races  on  our  soil,  it  is  probable  that  the  two  together  fur- 
nished a  better  stamina  for  the  England  of  a  later  age,  than 
would  have  been  furnished  by  the  Saxon  alone.  It  is  not 
easy  to  say  how  much  of  our  passion  for  the  sea,  and  of  our 
power  there,  have  come  from  the  blood  of  this  later  genera- 
tion of  sea-kings  who  found  their  home  among  us.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  our  great  sea-captains,  and  our  men  of  genius  in 
all  departments,  have  their  full  share  of  Danish  names 
among  them.  But  if  the  Danish  race  were  to  contribute 
towards  our  greatness  in  the  end,  it  is  not  less  certain  that 
they  proved  a  sad  impediment  to  our  progress  in  the  be- 
ginning. 

It  should,  however,  be  distinctly  remembered,  that  .the 
language  of  England,  which  was  not  to  become  Korman, 
never  became  Danish.  It  is  thus "  manifest  that  the 
race  which  continued  to  be  the  most  diffused,  and  the  most 
rooted  in  the  land  through  all  changes  was  the  Anglian  or 
Saxon.  At  the  Conquest,  the  language  spoken  in  the  coun- 
try contained  words  from  the  Latin,  more  from  the  Danish, 
and  more  than  is  commonly  supposed  from  the  Celtic ; 
but  its  forms  and  its  substance  were  those  which  had  been 

*  The  Northmen  in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland,  pp.  9,  10. 


168  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

BOOK  II.  introduced  by  the  tliree  great  brandies  of  the  migration, 

the  Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Angles,  and  especially  by 

the  latter,  the  destined  root  of  England  and  of  its  English- 
men. 

*  An  Account  of  the  Danes  and  Norwegians  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland^  by  E.  J.  H.  Worsaae.  London,  1852.  '  On  the  Races  of  Lancashire, 
as  indicated  by  the  Social  Names  and  the  Dialect  of  the  County,'  see  Proceedings 
of  the  Philological  Society,  1855.  'English  Ethnography,' by  Dr.  Donaldson, 
Cambridge  Essays,  1856.  'We  entirely  miss  in  English,'  says  Dr.  Donaldson, 
'  any  traces  of  the  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the  Danish  language.  We  do  not 
find  the  article  postfixed,  there  are  great  diflPerences  in  the  numerals,  the  substan- 
tive verb  follows  a  different  form  in  the  plural,  and  the  peculiar  negative  particle, 
iklce,  is  never  used  in  this  island.  From  this  last  circumstance  al6ne  we  feel  con- 
vinced that  the  Danes  exerted  only  a  transitory  and  limited  influence  on  the  lan- 
guage and  national  characteristics  of  our  ancestors.' — Ibid. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EEVOLUTIOiq^   IN   EELIGIO]^   IN  ANGLO-SAXON   BRITAIN. 

RELIGIO]^  in  some  form  is  a  want  of  humanity.     All  book  ii. 
communities  accordingly,  even  the  lowest,  have  their  e^,i~~ 
religions.     The  choice  in  history  is  always  found  to  lie,  not  "heratef  ^^ 
between  any  particular  religion  and  no  religion,  but  be- 
tween one  religion  and  another,     l^or  is  it  just  to  suppose 
that  a  religion  which  may  appear  to  us  to  be  very  unreas- 
onable, can  never  have  been  a  religion  deeply  felt,  or  sin- 
cerely believed.    As  a  rule,  the  men  who  sustain  false  relig- 
ions, are  as  firm  believers  in  the  religion  they  profess,  as 
are  the  nations  who  sustain  what  we  hold  to  be  a  more  true 
and  enlightened  faith. 

Everywhere,  in  consequence,  religion  is  one  of  the  most  its  potency 
potent  influences  in  making  the  man  and  the  nation  such  as 
we  find  them.  -  l^o where  is  this  more  true  than  in  the  case 
of  such  rude  communities  as  come  before  us  in  the  history 
of  the  Saxons  and  the  Danes.  Strong  are  the  relations 
between  ignorance  and  credulity.  Many  causes  may  have 
contributed  to  make  the  religion  of  a  people  such  as  it  is  ; 
but  religion  once  imbibed,  becomes  itself  a  cause  of  Avide 
and  powerful  influence.  In  this  island  the  Saxon  and  the  J^J^^JjJ^ 
Dane  soon  learnt  to  relinquish  their  heathenism.  But  the  ^^^^^J"*^ 
Christianity  which  they  embraced  was  much  too  narrow  and 
intolerant  to  allow  of  their  giving  us  any  satisfactory  account 
of  their  old  religion  when  once  they  had  embraced  the  new. 
Frequent  as  is  the  mention  made  by  the  Christian  Saxons 
of  the  pagans  of  their  own  time,  and  of  the  preceding  time, 
there  is   a  remarkable  absence  in  their  w^ritings  of  any 


iro 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  7. 


Their  early- 
faith  dete- 
riorated. 


Identity  of 
religious 
faith  be- 
tween the 
Saxon  and 
the  Dane. 


attempt  to  describe  the  nature  of  the  heathenism  once  so 
familiar  to  themselves.  So  that  onr  direct  information  on 
this  subject,  especially  as  regards  the  Anglo-Saxons,  is  much 
more  fragmentary  and  obscure  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. * 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  objects  of  worship  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons  were  the  same  substantially  with  those 
recognised  by  the  wide-spread  German  race  on  the  Con- 
tinent. The  mythology  of  the  Teutonic  nations  as  known 
to  Caesar  and  Tacitus,  was  only  partially  developed,  as  com- 
pared with  the  shape  which  that  worship  had  assumed  some 
three  or  four  centuries  later,  when  the  Saxons  invaded  Brit- 
ain. Tlie  worship  which  the  first  Germanic  settlers  brought 
into  the  north  of  Europe  is  supposed  to  have  recognised  one 
Supreme  Being,  in  a  manner  unknown  among  their  de- 
scendants in  later  ages,  f  This  purer  faith  the  first  emi- 
grants bore  with  them  from  the  East,  as  they  made  their 
way  along  the  track  of  territory  between  the  Caspian  and 
the  Euxine. 

By  degrees  this  belief  gave  place  to  a  more  complicated 
system  of  nature  worship,  and  to  hero  and  demon  worship. 
In  history,  monotheism  always  declines  where  the  authority 
of  revelation  fails.  If  that  doctrine  is  to  be  secure  as  the 
faith  of  a  nation,  it  must  rest  on  some  more  intelligible 
ground  than  reason  can  present  to  the  popular  understand- 
ing. Creature  worship,  in  some  form  or  other,  is  natural  to 
man.  The  immediate  worship  of  an  Infinite  Creator  is  too 
hard  for  him.  The  chasm  between  the  ordinary  capacities 
of  men  and  such  an  object  of  worship,  is  too  great  to  be 
passed  by  any  process  of  metaphysical  thought  possible  to 
such  capacities. 

The  history  of.  all  false  religions,  and  the  history  of  the 
larger  portion  of  Christendom  itself,  furnishes  evidence  but 
too  conclusive  on  this  point.     But  whatever  may  have  pre- 

*  In  the  canons  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  the  remains  of  the  old  paganism 
among  the  people  are  never  named  but  to  be  condemned ;  and  the  topic  often 
occurs. — See  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England^  18,  23,  24,  '71-T4,  86, 
162,  396,  39*7,  419.  Persistence  in  heathen  worship  after  the  profession  of 
Christianity  became  general  was  made  capital. — Ibid. 

■j-  Mallet's  Northern  Antiquities^  c.  iv.  v. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  171 

ceded,  it  is  certain  that  the  worship  of  the  Saxons,  Jutes,  ^,9^^  ]^ 

'  -■■  '  '      Chap.  7. 

and  Angles,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  had  become     

very  much  what  the  Danish  worship  is  known  to  be  in  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  The  gods  worshipped  by  the 
Danes  when  they  became  invaders  of  Britain,  were  the  gods 
after  whom  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  named  the  days  of  the 
week  three  centuries  earlier.  During  those  centuries  the 
Scalds  of  the  E'orthmen  may  have  expanded  and  embellish- 
ed the  mythic  fictions  of  their  race,  but  the  tree,  though  it 
had  grown,  was  still  the  same  tree.  In  the  religious  life  of 
the  Dane,  accordingly,  as  indicated  in  the  J^dda,  we  have 
beyond  doubt  the  main  elements  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
•Saxon,  from  whose  earlier  traditions  the  Edda  itself  was  in 
great  part  derived. 

Our  object  in  this  place  does  not  require  that  we  should 
attempt  to  distinguish  between  the  true  and  the  false  in  the 
mythology  of  the  northern  nations.  Our  business  just  now 
is  not  with  what  the  Saxon  or  the  Dane  should  have  believ- 
ed, but  with  what  they  did  believe.  Their  divinities  may 
have  had  some  place  in  history,  but  they  owe  the  character 
under  which  they  are  known  to  us  to  the  forms  of  thought, 
and  to  the  passions  dominant  among  their  worshippers. 
Such  worshippers  fashion  their  gods,  and  are  fashioned  by 
them.  To  know  their  deities,  in  consequence,  is  to  know 
themselves. 

"With  the  Dane,  and  with  the  Saxon  before  him,  Odin  Y^y^  ^or- 
or  Woden,  was  the  great  divinity.     Amidst  the  cold  and  \ 
barren  regions  of  the  north,  and  amidst  the  storm  and  dan- 
ger of  his  Baltic  winters,  the  Saxon  had  often  heard  from 
poet  and  from  priest  of  the  wonder-working  life  of  Woden. 
How  he  learnt  many  centuries  since,  to  hate  the  ambition 
of  the  Romans,  and  to  despise  the  nations  that  submitted  to 
it  ;  how  he  left  his  great  city  of  Asgard  in  the  far  East,  and 
passing  the  great  seas  of  that  eastern  land,  travelled  west- 
ward ;  how  the  warlike  youth  of  all  nations  flocked  to  his 
standard  ;  how  he  passed  along  the  territory  of  the  Saxons, 
and  Angles,  and  Jutes,  in  his  way  to  conquests  which  cover- 
ed all  the  regions  northward  ;  how  he  became  the  father  of 
many  kings,  dividing  among  them  many  lands  ;  how,  while 


172  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^caS  ?'  ^^^  could  rush  as  a  devouring  flame  over  the  battle-field,  he 

could  use  most  persuasive  speech  in  prose  and  verse,  knew 

many  secret  arts  which  gave  him  power  over  the  seen  and 
the  unseen,  and  power  to  establish  many  wise  laws ;  how 
finding  his  end  approaching,  and  scorning  to  die  of  a  wast- 
ing sickness,  he  gathered  his  brave  men  about  him,  inflicted 
a  succession  of  wounds  upon  his  person,  and  spoke  in  those 
last  moments  of  returning  whence  he  came,  to  the  home  of 
the  gods  ;  and  how,  having  been  worshipped  while  he  lived, 
he  became  known  when  he  had  departed,  as  no  other  than 
the  greatest  of  the  gods,  the  father  of  creation,  of  gods  and 
of  men.  The  Mars,  the  Mercury,  and  the  Apollo  of  the 
classical  mythology  appear  to  meet  in  the  Woden  of  the 
Saxon  and  the  N^orthman,  but  the  warlike  element  is  the 
prominent  one.  He  was  '  The  terrible  god,  the  father  of 
slaughter,  the  giver  of  victory,  the  reviver  of  the  faint  in 
battle — naming  those  who  should  be  slain.'  Warriors  go 
forth  vowing  to  send  to  him  so  many  ghosts  from  the  field. 
These  were  his  right,  he  receives  them  in  the  hall  of  Yal- 
halla — the  place  where  all  who  die  with  weapons  in  their 
hands  receive  their  reward.  There  the  brave  sit  down  with 
him  at  his  feast.  But  here  they  bow  in  all  things  to  the 
destiny  of  his  will.  They  hear  him  often  amidst  the  din  of 
arms — see  him  often  where  the  death-strife  thickens.  Even 
this,  is  not  enough.  Of  Odin  the  J^dda  says  :  '  He  liveth 
and  governeth  during  the  ages ;  he  directeth  everything 
which  is  high,  and  everything  which  is  low ;  whatever  is 
>  great,  and  whatever  is  small ;  he  hath  made  the  heavens, 
ihe  air,  and  man,  who  is  to  live  for  ever — and  before  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  this  god  existed.' 

I^otvonly  Hengist  and  Horsa,-  but  all  the  founders  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  kingdoms,  without  exception,  claimed  to  be, 
in  some  way  or  other,  descendants  of  Woden.  Over  the 
north,  and  in  this  country,  the  name  of  Woden  was  given 
to  the  fourth  dai^ef  the  week ;  and  the  names  of  many 
places  in  England  at  this  day,  are  names  derived  from  the 
worship  there  paid  to  this  deity  by  our  Saxon  ancestors.* 

*  Mallet,  liTorth  Antiq.  c.  iii.  v.     Kemble's  Saxons  in  England^  i.  343,  344. 


KEVOLUTION  IN  RELIGION.  173 

Next  to  Woden  as  an  object  of  veneration,  stood  Thor,\B<>OK  ir. 
the  most  valiant  of  his  sons.     Thor  gave  his  name  to  the/^  — - 
fifth  day  of  the  week  among  the  Anglo-Saxons.     In  him  the  <i«'"<^'- 
Saxon  saw  the   '  Thunderer.'     The  defender   of  the  gods. 
The  strong   arm  that  could  subdue  giants  and  monsters. 
The  girdle  he  wore  ensured  him  a  perpetual  strength.     The 
mallet  he  wielded  with  his  mailed  hand  shattered  resistance 
to  pieces.     In  all  this  the  initiated  may  have  seen  a  mythic 
representation  of  an  elemental  deity,  powerful  over  the  forces 
of  nature,  which  must  be  subdued  and  regulated  to  be  sub- 
servient to  man.     But  the  rude  Saxon  saw  nothing  of  these 
hidden  meanings.     Thor  was  to  him  what  "Woden  was — a 
great  warrior. 

Though  the  powers  of  all  the  gods  seemed  to  meet  in 
Odin,  the  Mars  of  the  northern  mythology  was  the  god  af- 
ter whom  the  '  Tuesday '  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  week  was 
named.  Worship  was  no  doubt  rendered  to  Tcio  or  Tyr 
on  that  day,  but  we  know  nothing  concerning  his  special 
influence  on  his  worshippers.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Frea,  from  whom  comes  our  name  of  '  Friday.'  Frea 
appears  to  have  been  the  god  of  boundaries  and  of  in- 
crease. Of  the  god  Ssetere,  from  whom  our  ^  Saturday '  is 
named,  we  know  even  less,  as  connected  with  Anglo-Sax- 
on history,  than  of  the  preceding. 

But  the  myths  of  tlie  north  assign  a  conspicuous  place  ^^^J* 
to  Balder,  another  son  of  Odin.  They  described  him  as  the 
god  of  light  and  grace,  of  such  manly  beauty  and  excel- 
lence that  light  seemed  to  beam  from  him  upon  all  be- 
holders. But  a  prophecy  went  forth  that  Balder  would 
perish.  The  gods  were  afflicted  by  the  tidings.  Frigga, 
the  wife  of  Odin,  took  an  oath  from  all  created  nature,  bind- 
ing every  individual  thing  not  to  harm  the  person  so  men- 
aced, and  so  deeply  beloved.  It  was  found  that  no  weapon 
could  touch  the  life  so  guarded.  But  a  sprig  of  mistletoe, 
too  young  at  the  time  to  have  been  included  in  the  oath  im- 
posed by  Frigga,  had  been  excepted.  Loki — the  Satan  of 
tliis  dream — placed  a  branch  of  the  fatal  mistletoe  in  a  hos- 
tile hand,  and  Balder  was  killed.  Odin  himself  descended  to 
the  abodes  of  the  dead,  hoping  to  prevail  on  the  goddess 


174 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  7. 


Loki  and 
the  evil 
Deities. 


The  Fates. 


Hel,  the  guardian  of  the  departed,  to  give  back  her  prey. 
It  was  promised  that  Balder  should  return  on  condition  that 
all  created  nature  should  weep  for  him.  All  wept,  save 
one  old  crone,  whom  Loki  had  possessed.  When  called  up- 
on to  join  the  weeping,  she  answered :  '  What  have  the 
gods  done  for  me  that  I  should  weep  for  Balder  ?  Let  Hel 
keep  her  dead.'  So  Balder  could  not  be  made  to  live  again  ; 
and  so  his  faithful  Nanna,  refusing  to  survive  her  beautiful 
lord,  perished  on  his  funeral  pile.  Weeping  virgins  spread 
the  pall  over  the  loved  one  in  the  cold  dark  home  of  the  in  • 
visible.  But  the  belief,  nevertheless,  went  abroad,  that  a 
son  of  Balder  had  taken  ample  vengeance  on  the  wiles  of 


Loki  ;  and  that  a  time  would  come,  '  after  the 


twilight 


of 


the  gods,'  when  Balder  would  rise  from  the  dead,  and  when 
his  rising  would  be  a  signal  for  the  ending  of  all  sin,  and 
sorrow,  and  death.* 

It  may,  we  think,  be  reasonably  supposed,  that  the  mate- 
rials of  such  a  story  did  something  towards  preparing  the 
people  who  could  devise  it,  or  believe  in  it,  for  their  adop- 
tion of  that  better  creed  to  which  it  has  some  strong  and 
beautiful  points  of  resemblance. 

The  Loki  of  the  E"orthman,  in  common  with  the  Evil 
One  of  the  Scriptures,  had  his  j)lace  once  where  the  good 
dwell.  For  the  punishment  of  his  wiles  he  is  now  put  un- 
der restraint.  What  Loki  was  to  the  Danes,  a  being  named 
Grendal  had  been  to  the  Saxons.  Thus  we  see  that  the 
doctrine  of  an  Evil  Spirit  had  its  j)recursor  among  the  old 
heathenisms  of  the  north ;  and  we  regret  to  say  that  this 
devil-doctrine  became  only  more  sensuous,  and  more  coarse- 
ly superstitious,  when  assumed  along  with  the  profession  of 
Christianity.  Nothing  could  be  more  offensive  than  the 
use  to  which  it  was  applied  by  the  priesthood  of  those 
times.  Our  familiar  expression,  '  Old  Nick,'  comes  from 
Nicor,  the  name  given  to  a  species  of  elve,  or  water-devil, 
found  planning  his  mischief  along  the  shores  of  lakes, 
rivers,  and  seas. 

The  northern  nations,  moreover,  had  their  Fates,  who 
wove  the  web  of  destiny,  and  to  whom  both  gods  and  men 


Mallet,  North  Ant.  c.  v.     Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  S61-d69. 


EE VOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  175 

were  subject.     The  three  Noms — embracing  the  Past,  the  ^^^^^  \^ 
Present,  and  the  Future — were  what  the  three  Fates  of  the     — - 
Greek  mythology  had  long  been.     The  Saxon  word  weird 
was  used  to  denote  fate  or  destiny  ;  and  we  have  all  heard 
of  the. '  weird  sisters.'     Coniidence  in  women  supposed  to 
be  in  possession  of  such  knowledge  of  the  things  that  shall 
be,  was  a  conspicuous  element  in  the  northern  heathenism. 
But  in  the  warrior  creed,  the  fate  of  battles,  and  of  those 
who  should  be  there  found  among  the  living  or  the  dead, 
was  with  Odin.     So  that  the  Fates,  if  in  some  things  su- 
preme, were  in  others   subordinate ;  and  the  weird   sister  , 
who  might  see  the  future,  had  no  power  to  j^roduce  change 
there.* 

In  honour  of  these  divinities  the  Anglo-Saxons  reared  worship  of 
edifices,  which  are  called  temples,  set  up  idols  in  such  ^^^^' 
places,  preselited  oxen  in  sacrifice  before  them,  and  connect- 
ed feasting  and  drinking  with  their  acts  of  homage  to  them. 
Such  was  the  worship  practised  in  Kent  at  the  time  of  its 
conversion.f  It  is  certain,  also,  that  such  was  the  worship 
which  obtained  in  the  other  states  of  the  Heptarchy.  J  Bede, 
in  his  account  of  N^orthumbria,  makes  mention  of  a  chief 
priest  connected  with  the  heathen  worship  in  that  kingdom. 
So  that  there  were  not  only  priests,  but  priests  with  some 
gradation  of  authority  among  them.§  But  the  authority 
which  the  Saxon  ceded  to  the  priest  was  small,  compared 
with  that  which  the  Celt  had  ceded  to  the  Druid  ;  and,  in 
fact,  but  few  of  their  priests  would  seem  to  have  accom- 
panied them  in  their  migration.  It  is  from  this  cause,  in 
part,  that  our  information  concerning  the  heathen  worship 
of  the  Saxons  after  their  settlement  in  this  country  is  so  lim- 
ited. We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  their  sacrifices 
in  Britain  ever  included  human  victims  ;  but  in  their  own 
land,  the  immolation  of  captives  in  honour  of  their  gods 
was  by  no  means  uncommon.! 

This  ceasing  of  human  sacrifices,  and  this  raising  of  build- 
ings for  worship,  on  the  part  of  the  Saxon  in  Britain,  may 

*  Edda^  part  I.     Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  c.  12.     Olaus,  Hist.  iii.  c.  9. 

f  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  i.  30. 

X  Ibid.  ii.  5,  9,  15  ;  iii.  8,  30;  iv.  22,  27. 

§  Ibid.  ii.  13.  ||  Sidonius,  Opera,  Ep.  viii.  6, 


176 


SAXONS    AND   DANES. 


^caS.  ¥'  suffice  to  indicate  that  the  change  of  country  had  conduced 
speedily  and  considerably  to  a  change  of  manners.  In  the 
countries  which  these  people  had  left,  human  sacrifices  con- 
tinued to  be  offered  so  late  as  the  ninth  century  ;  and  long 
after  the  times  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  their  only  places  for 
worship  continued  to  be  of  that  rude  Druidical  description 
the  remains  of  which  are  still  found  in  many  parts  of  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  and  E'orway.  But  the  time  came  in  which 
all  these  countries  began  to  rival  each  other  in  the  splen- 
dour of  the  structures  reared  in  honour  of  their  deities. 

The  great  temple  at  Up  sal  in  Sweden,  appears  to  have 
been  especially  dedicated  to  Odin,  Thor,  and  Frea.  Its  pe- 
riodical festivals  were  accompanied  by  different  degrees  of 
conviviality  and  licence,  in  which  human  sacrifices  w^ere 
rarely  wanting,  varied  in  their  number  and  value  by  the 
supposed  exigency.  In  some  cases  even  royal  blood  was 
selected,  that  the  imagined  anger  of  the  gods  might  be  ap- 
peased. In  Scandinavia,  the  authority  of  the  priest  was 
much  greater  than  it  would  appear  to  have  been  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons.  It  was  his  word  often  which  determined 
where  the  needed  victims  should  be  found.  It  was  his  hand 
that  inflicted  the  woimd,  and  his  voice  which  said  'I  send 
thee  to  Odin,'  declaring  the  object  of  the  sacrifice  to  be, 
that  the  gods  might  be  propitiated,  that  there  might  be  a 
fruitful  season,  or  a  successful  war.  It  was  to  his  mandate 
that  the  proudest  could  bow  without  any  sense  of  degrada- 
tion, his  command  being  the  utterance,  not  of  the  man,  but 
of  the  god  he  represented.  In  this  manner,  as  we  have  be- 
fore observed,  the  will  resisted  nowhere  else,  has  often  felt 
that  there  was  at  least  one  quarter  from  which  restraint 
might  come.  Of  course  the  JSTorthmen  were  great  believers 
in  omens,  and  the  priests  were  the  interpreters  of  omens. 
We  should  add,  that  they  were  highly  chivalrous  in  their 
conduct  towards  women.  But  even  their  love  only  tended 
to  deepen  their  hate,  and  to  give  a  stronger  intensity  to 
their  passion  to  annihilate  resistance.  The  women  had  im- 
bibed the  spirit  of  the  men.  It  was  indispensable  to  the 
successful  suitor  that  he  should  be  brave. 

So  do  we  come  to  see  something  of  the  forais  of  thought, 


REVOLUTION   IN   KELIGION.  177 

and  something  of  the  passions — and  the  light  and  shadow,  b^k  il 
which  made  up  the  life  of  the  Saxon  and  the  Dane  in  their  g„^;^ 
state  of  heathendom.  The  great  element  of  the  godlike  in  SKIJJl"^ 
that  heathen  system  seemed  to  be  placed  in  the  propensity  *''*°  "^«- 
to  vanquish  and  destroy.  But  underneath  all  this  blood- 
shed and  marauding  lay  a  conviction  which  was  regarded 
as  imparting  to  it  manliness,  nobleness,  and  even  sanctity. 
This  conviction  was,  that  the  man  employed  in  tilling  the 
ground,  or  selling  his  wares,  should  be  reckoned  a  deterio- 
rated man  ;  and  that  it  belongs  to  the  firmer  natures,  who 
contemn  such  employments,  to  give  law  to  the  weaker  na- 
tures which  conform  to  them.  If  this  conception  was  not 
clearly  expressed,  and  reduced  to  an  axiom,  nevertheless  it 
was  there,  and  it  did  not  work  the  less  potently  from  the 
fact  that  untaught  passion,  rather  than  a  trained  logic,  had 
settled  it  as  a  religious  truth.  Somehow,  the  world  had 
come  to  consist  very  much  of  two  classes — the  comfort-lov- 
ing and  the  brave  ;  and  if  anything  could  be  clear,  it  was 
thought  to  be  clear,  that  the  brave  should  be  masters.  It 
might  be  all  very  well  that  the  two  sorts  of  people  should 
exist — but  the  one  should  assuredly  be  servant  to  the  other, 
and  whatever  destruction  of  property  or  life  should  be  ne- 
cessary to  that  end,  could  be  no  matter  to  whine  and  weep 
over,  but  the  contrary.  With  Odin,  the  sword  was  the  in- 
strument to  determine  who  should  be  uppermost,  and  so 
should  it  be  with  all  the  children  of  Odin.  I^or  is  it  among 
barbarians  only  that  reasoning  of  this  sort  may  be  traced. 
"We  find  it  whenever  right  is  determined  by  might.  It  was 
in  this  spirit  that  Hengist  and  Cerdic,  Canute  and  "William 
the  Conqueror  alike  acquitted  themselves.  It  is  in  this  spir- 
it that  the  great  military  monarchies  of  Europe  have  be- 
come what  they  are. 

Thus  in  the  life  of  the  heathen  sea-king,  contempt  of  the 
civilized  man  became  a  feeling  eminently  religious  ;  and  a 
heart  which  left  no  room  to  pity,  became  the  heart  regarded 
as  in  the  highest  degree  meet  for  the  pleasures  of  the  l^orse 
paradise.  Barbarianism  thus  became  a  necessary  condition 
of  devoutness,  and  cruelty  became  a  fruit  of  piety.  The 
southern  peoples  were  regarded,  not  only  as  the  foreign,  but 
Vol.  I.— 12 


178 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


^^p  ?'  ^^  *^^^  effeminate — as  natural  enemies  to  tlie  true  children 
of  nature,  and  to  send  many  such  souls  to  Odin  was  to  live 
to  some  purpose. 

It  was  this  complexion  of  thinking  which  rendered  both 
the  Saxon  and  the  Dane  so  faithful  to  their  pledge  one  to- 
wards another,  and  which  gave  such  prominence  in  their 
history  to  the  passion  of  revenge.  Their  confederations 
were  confederations  against  the  civilized  world,  and  only 
by  fidelity  at  home  could  they  hope  to  be  successful  abroad. 
In  their  hour  of  misfortune,  in  their  moments  of  torture  and 
death,  their  solace  generally  was,  that  their  people  would 
never  hear  of  such  disaster  without  swearing  to  avenge  it. 
So  Inguar  and  Ubbo  came  to  avenge  the  death  of  their 
father  Lodbrog.  So  Sweyne  came  to  avenge  the  fate  of 
his  sister  Gunhilda. 

But  there  was  another  source  from  which  the  courage 
of  the  ISTorthman  gathered  strength.  His  faith  not  only 
taught  him  that  it  is  a  right  thing  for  the  sword  to  rule,  but 
that  such  rule  had  been  decreed.  He  was  a  great  fatalist. 
Odin  always  named  those  who  should  be  slain.  Every 
brave  man  had  his  work  to  do,  and  would  be  safe  until  that 
work  should  be  done.  There  are  two  points  from  which  we 
may  look  at  life — from  its  beginning,  and  all  in  the  distance 
will  seem  to  be  contingency  ;  or  from  its  end,  when  all  the 
parts  will  appear  to  have  been  fixed  by  the  laws  of  an  iron 
destiny.  The  worshippers  of  Odin  looked  at  life  as  Odin 
was  supposed  to  look  at  it,  as  it  will  appea,r  at  the  end ; 
and  in  so  doing  they  learned  to  persuade  themselves  that, 
as  nothing  in  the  future  can  be  changed,  anything  in  the 
present  may  be  dared.  Great,  however,  was  their  solici- 
tude to  obtain  some  glimpse  of  the  future  in  their  seasons 
of  danger.  'No  pains  were  then  spared  to  get  favourable 
responses  from  the  auguries  of  the  priest,  or  from  the  divin- 
ing of  the  sorceress/^ 

It  must  be  obvious,  that  among  a  people  who  lived  by 

means  of  plunder  abroad,  and  by  the  help  of  slaves  at  home, 

time  must  have  passed  in  alternate  hardship  and  indolence 

— attempting  everything  or  doing  nothing.     It  is  not  easy 

*  Nwthern  Antiq.  c.  vii.     Cluver.  Antiq.  Germ.  I.  c.  86. 


REVOLrTION   IN   EELIGION.  179 

to  say  which  of  these  extremes  must  have  tended  to  demor-  book  il 

CnAP.  7 

alization  in  the  greatest  degree — the  coarse  feasting,  dnmk-     — '—' 
enness,  and  frays-  of  'the  winter,  or  the  cruelties  and  excesses 
of  the  summer. 

But  under  all  this  we  may  see,  both  in  Saxons  and 
E"ortlimen,  a  people  of  great  physical  vigour,  strong  in  will, 
ardent  in  passion,  indomitable  in  courage,  and  of  such  high 
natural  capacity  as  could  only  need  to  be  placed  under 
other  influences,  to  fit  them  for  realizing  a  form  of  civiliza- 
tion for  themselves  greatly  in  advance  of  that  Koman  civ- 
ilization which  had  become,  and  not  wholly  without  reason, 
the  object  of  their  scorn. 

"We  now  pass,  then,  from  these  warlike  and  heathen 
phases  of  Anglo-Saxon  history,  to  mark  the  more  silent  rev- 
olution wrought  by  Christianity,  and  by  the  civilization 
which  it  did  sa  much  to  promote.  So  long  as  our  ancestors 
were  heathen  men,  Frea,  the  god  of  bountifulness,  was  set 
up  side  by  side  with  the  '  Father  of  Slaughter ; '  and  the 
beautiful  myth  concerning  the  fate  of  Balder,  had  its  place 
along  with  pictures  of  the  revellings  to  be  enjoyed  in  the 
halls  of  Yalhalla.  It  was  left  to  Christianity  to  separate  the 
true  in  tliese  concej)tions  from  the  false,  the  good  from  the  evil. 

The  first  landing  of  the  Saxons  in  Britain  was,  as  we  introdac- 
have  seen,  in  449.  The  mission  of  Augustine,  the  first  chris- 
Christian  preacher  among  the  descendants  of  these  settlers, 
was  in  596.  So  that  about  a  century  and  a  half  intervened, 
between  the  landing  of  Hengist,  and  the  conversion  of  Etliel- 
bert,  his  successor  on  the  throne  of  Kent,  to  the  profession 
of  Christianity.  But  the  conversion  of  the  South  Saxons^ 
the  last  state  of  the  Heptarchy  to  abandon  idolatry,  did  not 
take  place  until  685,  almost  ninety  years  later.  From  685, 
Anglo-Saxon  Britain  may  be  said  to  be  included  in  the  por- 
tion of  the  globe  bearing  the  name  of  Christendom.  The 
Danes,  indeed,  brought  their  paganism  wdth  them ;  but  they 
were  soon  led  to  embrace  the  faith  of  their  adopted  country. 

In  what  remains  of  this  chapter  we  shall  glance  at  the 
leading  facts  connected  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  Anglo-Saxon  Britain,  and  at  the  main  features  of  the 
change  resulting  from  that  event. 


tianity. 


180 


SAXONS  AND  DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  7. 

Pope 
Gregory. 


In  592  Gregory  the  Great  became  pope.  He  was  by 
birth  a  man  of  rank.  His  life  from  his  youth  was  marked 
by  great  religions  earnestness,  and  by  gi-eat  self-sacrifice,  ac- 
cording to  the  notions  of  his  time.  Though  neither  a  great 
genius  nor  a  faultless  man,  compared  with  the  age  in  which 
he  lived,  he  was  a  person  of  eminent  ability  and  virtue. 
While  a  humble  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Andrew,  it 
chanced  that  Gregory  passed  one  day  through  the  market- 
place at  Eome,  where  some  beautiful  boys  were  exposed  for 
sale.  Struck  with  their  handsome  features,  fair  complex- 
ions, and  light  flaxen  hair,  which  fell  in  ringlets  on  their 
shoulders,  he  inquired  whence  they  came.  The  answer  was, 
'  From  Britain.'—'  Are  they  Christians  ? '  was  the  next  ques- 
tion. '  'No,  they  are  pagans.'  '  Alas  ! '  said  the  monk, '  that 
the  Prince  of  Darkness  should  inhabit  forms  so  lovely — that 
the  beauty  of  the  soul  should  be  wanting,  where  there  is 
such  beauty  of  countenance.  Of  what  nation  are  they  ? ' 
'  Angles,'  was  the  answer.  '  Right,'  said  Gregory, '  they  are 
angels.  From  what  province  ? ' — '  Deira,'  was  the  reply. 
'  Surely  they  must  be  rescued  [de  ira]  from  the  wrath  of 
God.  "Wliat  is  the  name  of  their  king  ? ' — '  ^Ua,'  said  the 
slave-master.  '  Right  again,'  said  Gregory,  '  Alleluia  must 
be  sung  in  the  country  of  that  king.'*  Much  may  not  be 
said  for  the  taste  exhibited  in  this  word-play.  But  the  in- 
cident shows  the  susceptibility  of  imagination  and  feeling 
by  which  the  future  pope  was  characterized — qualities 
which  prompted  him  to  so  many  of  his  labours.  The  idea 
thus  lodged  in  his  mind  was  not  unfruitful.  He  sought 
permission  of  the  then  Bishop  of  Rome  to  become  himself 
an  apostle  to  the  distant  heathen  whose  condition  had  so 
much  affected  him.  He  had  journeyed  three  days  on  the 
road  towards  Britain,  when  messengers  overtook  him  with 
the  unwelcome  tidings  that  the  people  of  Rome  had  pre- 
vailed on  the  pope  to  revoke  his  sanction  of  the  enterprise. 
In  the  great  trouble  of  the  capital,  and  in  prospect  of 
troubles  still  greater,  the  people  feel,  said  the  messengers, 


*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  c.  i.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  597. 


EEVOLmON   EST  RELIGION.  181 

that  Gregory  is  not  the  man  to  be  spared  for  such  an  under-  book  il 

,  .         ^^      "^  ^  CuAP.7. 

taking. "'  -  

But  what  Gregory  was  not  to  do  in  person,  was  to  be  ^i^j,''?j'^^ 
done  under  his  guidance.  In  596,  the  fourth  year  of  his 
pontificate,  he  deputed  Augustine,  and  certain  monks,  to 
attempt  the  introduction  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  Augustine  was  obedient,  but  had  not  reached  the 
shores  of  Britain  when  the  fears  of  the  brotherhood  became 
so  strong,  that  they  halted  on  their  way,  and  implored  per- 
mission to  return.  Gregory  exhorted  them  by  letter  to  be 
steadfast  and  believing,  and  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Aries, 
urging  him  to  render  all  needful  service  to  the  missionaries. 
Augustine  and  his  companions  committed  themselves  to 
their  voyage,  and  landed  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet.  Ethelbert 
was  then  king  of  Kent,  and  Bertha,  his  queen,  a  daughter 
of  Charibert,  king  of  France,  was  a  Christian.  The  strang- 
ers sent  a  messenger  to  the  king,  to  state  to  him  that  they 
had  come  from  a  distant  land,  to  make  known  tidings  of 
unspeakable  importance  to  him  and  to  his  people.  Ethel- 
bert said,  let  all  hospitality  be  shown  to  these  persons  ;  and 
four  days  afterwards  he  met  them  in  the  open  air,  to  hear 
from  them  more  fully  the  purpose  of  their  coming.  Augus- 
tine explained  to  the  king  the  Christian  doctrine.  Ethel- 
bert, without  at  once  professing  himself  a  Christian,  told 
them  they  might  preach  their  doctrine  to  his  subjects,  and 
that  they  might  take  up  their  abode  in  Canterbury,  where 
provision  should  be  made  for  their  support.  The  forty 
monks  accordingly,  with  Augustine  at  their  head,  entered 
that  city  in  procession,  chanting  a  litany,  in  which  they  im- 
plored that  the  divine  wrath  might  be  turned  away  from 
the  people. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year,  ten  thousand  Saxons  are  its  success, 
said  to  have  received  baptism.  Ethelbert  himself  became 
a  convert.  But  the  king  left  his  subjects  to  their  proper 
liberty — '  for  he  had  learnt,'  says  Bede,  ^  from  his  instructors, 
that  the  service  of  Christ  must  be  voluntary,  not  by  com- 
pulsion.' Great  was  the  joy  of  Gregory  on  learning  the 
signal  success  which  had  attended  the  preaching  of  his  mis- 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  ii.  c.  i,  §  90. 


182  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

BOOK  n.  sionaries."^     He  wrote  to  Ethelbert,  exliorting  him,  as  Lis 

'  illustrious  son,'  to  continue  steadfast  in  the  pursuit  of  the 

heavenly  crown,  and  urged  him  to  show  his  zeal  by  casting 
down  the  idols,  and  demolishing  the  structures  raised  for 
the  pagan  worship.  He  wrote  to  Augustine  also,  giving 
him  useful  coiinsel  in  regard  to  many  questions  of  casuistry 
and  discipline  which  began  to  demand  answer  from  him  in 
his  new  field  of  labour — cautioning  him,  at  the  same  time, 
against  being  lifted  up  with  pride  by  reason  of  his  suc- 
cesses and  his  miracles  !  Augustine  became  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  with  power  to  ordain  bishops,  the  pall — an 
ornament  of  dress  which  denoted  a  metropolitan  dignity — 
being  sent  to  him  by  G-regory,  that  he  might  acquit  him- 
self with  due  form  in  such  services.  Mellitus,  Justus,  Pau- 
linus,  and  Rufinianus  are  among  the  names  of  the  ecclesias- 
tics sent  to  assist  the  new  archbishop,  and  with  these,  it  is 
said,  came  all  things  '  necessary  for  the  worship  and  service 
of  the  church — viz.,  sacred  vessels  and  vestments  for  the 
altars,  also  ornaments  for  the  churches,  and  vestments  for 
the  priests  and  clerks,  as  likewise  relics  of  the  holy  apostles 
and  martyrs  ;  besides  many  books.'  f 

Augustine  soon  became  aware  that  it  had  not  been  left  to 
him  to  be  the  first  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  Britain.  The  Chris- 
tianity which  the  Britons  had  adopted  while  under  the  Ro- 
mans, had  not  only  been  preserved  by  them  on  their  retreat 
into  the  fastnesses  of  Wales,  but  had  acquired  such  influence 
among  them  as  to  have  wholly  superseded  their  more  an- 
cient worship.  But  the  Christianity  received  by  the  Brit- 
ons was  that  which  had  been  common  to  the  East  and  AYest 
in  the  third  century,  while  the  Christianity  of  Augustine 
was  that  which  obtained  in  Rome  three  centuries  later. 
During  those  three  centuries,  the  system  of  the  secluded 
Britons  had  been  comparatively  stationary — that  of  the 
south  of  Europe  had  been  undergoing  many  changes.  In 
regard  to  the  time  of  keeping  Easter,  and  many  other 
observances,  the  British  churches  followed  the  customs 
of  the  East,  and  differed  from  those  of  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

*  Opera,  ep.  vii.  31.  f  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  i.  c.  28 — 33. 


EEVOLUnON   IN   RELIGION.  183 

Augustine,  with  the  aid  of  Etlielbert,  sought  a  conference  book  il 
with  certain  of  the  Welsh  clergy,  in  the  hope  of  prevailing  j^^-^^^,^ 
on  the  churches  of  Wales  to  conform  themselves  to  the  conference 

Willi  the 

Eomisli  observances.  In  his  first  interview,  neither  his  S^hops 
arguments  nor  his  persuasions  were  of  any  avail.  But  a 
second  conference  was  agreed  upon,  in  which  the  British 
representatives  were  to  consist  of  persons  more  competent 
to  decide  in  behalf  of  their  nation.  The  Welsh  now  de- 
puted seven  of  their  bishops.  Tliese  bishops  are  said  to 
have  consulted  a  recluse  famous  for  his  wisdom,  touching 
the  course  it  might  behove  them  to  take.  The  substance 
of  his  counsel  appears  to  have  been,  that  unity  on  the 
ground  of  submission  as  inferiors  to  Augustine  as  their  su- 
perior, was  not  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment.  Let  them 
arrange  to  approach  the  archbishop  while  he  should  be 
seated.  If  he  rose  to  receive  theni,  the  action  might  be 
taken  as  indicating  brotherhood  and  equality,  and  it  would 
be  well  to  listen  dispassionately  to  his  statements.  If  he 
received  them^  sitting,  his  so  doing  would  bespeak  preten- 
sions to  superiority  fraught  with  mischief,  and  it  would  be- 
hove them  to  look  on  all  measures  proposed  by  him  with 
suspicion.  Augustine  did  not  rise.  The  Welsh  bishops 
acted  on  the  counsel  that  had  been  given  them.  The  arch- 
bishop lost  patience,  and  said  to  the  Britons,  with  much 
warmth,  that  they  should  ere  long  fall  by  the  sword  of  the 
Saxons,  seeing  that  they  refused  to  join  him  in  preaching 
the  Gospel  to  them.  This  passionate  utterance  was  ac- 
counted a  prophecy,  and  was  said  to  have  been  fulfilled 
some  years  later  in  a  battle  near  Chester,  where  the  loss  of 
the  Britons  was  great,  and  a  large  body  of  monks,  assem- 
bled to  pray  in  their  behalf  on  a  neighbouring  hill",  were 
put  to  the  sword. *^' 

This  conference  took  place  in  the  open  air  under  an  oak. 
The  place  of  meeting  was  some  border  district,  but  whether 
in  Gloucestershire  or  Shropshire  is  uncertain.  The  event 
became  a  theme  of  tradition,  and  a  fact  in  history,  between 
the  two  races.  It  taught  such  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy 
as  were  most  disposed  to  make  their  use  of  the  authority  of 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  ii.  c.  2.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  607. 


184  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cb3.  "■  ^^^^  to  cast  the  reproach  of  schism  on  the  British  Church ; 
while  in  the  imagination  of  the  Briton,  it  served  to  identify 
the  spiritual  pretensions  of  Borne,  with  the  territorial  pre- 
tensions of  the  Saxons.  The  slaughter  of  the  Britons  at 
Chester  did  not  take  place  until  some  years  after  the  death 
of  Augustine  ;  and  the  monks  slain  on  that  occasion,  were 
from  the  monastery  of  Bancor,  on  the  river  Dee — an  estab- 
lishment which  had  long  been  famous  for  its  learning,  and 
the  number  of  its  inmates.* 
Sntfnui''"^  Before  his  decease,  in  604,  Augustine  had  ordained  an 
Eomarand^  ccclesiastic  uamcd  Laurentius  as  his  successor.  Mellitus 
■^ilr^^  had  preached  the  Gospel  with  success  in  Essex,  and  was 
ordained  bishop  of  the  East  Saxons.  Justus  was  ordained 
bishop  of  Eochester.  Laurentius  soon  learnt,  that  the  cus- 
toms of  the  Britons  in  regard  to  the  festival  of  Easter,  and 
other  matters,  were  the  customs  of  the  Christians  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland.  So  near  are  the  shores  of  the  west  of  Scotland 
to  those  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  that  what  those  countries  pos- 
sessed, even  at  that  time,  they  possessed  very  much  in  com- 
mon ;  and  the  Irish  and  Scots  are  in  consequence  frequently 
spoken  of  as  the  same  people.  Persuasive  letters  were  ad- 
dressed by  Laurentius  and  his  brethren  to  the  Britons,  the 
Scots,  and  the  Irish,  urging  that  they  should  conform  to 
usages  said  to  be  those  of  the  universal  church.  But  the 
nonconformists  do  not  appear  to  have  been  moved  by  these 
expostulations.f 
reStion  ia  ^^^  ^^^  Mellitus  was  present  at  a  council  in  Home,  con- 
vened by  Boniface  TV.  In  that  assembly  there  was  much 
consultation  on  the  affairs  of  Britain ;  and  Mellitus  returned 
the  bearer  of  documents  intended  to  cement  the  relations 
between  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church  and  the  See  of  Rome.:!: 
But  six  years  later,  Ethelbert  died.  Eadbert,  his  son,  mar- 
ried his  father's  widow.  The  Christian  clergy  protested 
against  this  incestuous  proceeding.     Tlie  new  religion,  in 

*  Camden,  Brit  665,  666.  This  Bancor,  or  Bangor-is-y-Ceod,  must  be  dis- 
tinguished from  Bangor  in  the  Menai  Straits. 

There  are  passages  in  Bede  which  show  that  the  Saxons  and  the  Britons  were 
severed  from  each  other  by  strong  mutual  prejudices,  and  even  their  Christianity 
only  seemed  to  add  to  their  points  of  difference. — Eccles,  Hist.  ii.  c.  2,  20. 

f  Eccles.  Hist.  ii.  c.  4.  %  I^'^-  ^^^-  "•  ^-  ^' 


several 
states. 


EEVOLTjnON  m  RELIGION.  185 

consequence,  was  no  longer  in  favour  with  the  crown  or  the  book  ii. 
court.  Idolatry  was  introduced  anew.  Among  the  East  — '-' 
Saxons,  also,  the  death  of  the  king  brought  with  it  a  similar 
revolution.  All  that  had  seemed  to  be  gained  now  ap- 
peared to  be  lost.  Tlie  clergy  began  to  seek  refuge  in 
Gaul.  In  Essex,  some  time  passed  before  any  reaction 
took  place.  But  Eadbert  soon  learnt  to  confess  his  error, 
and  the  Christian  order  of  things  in  Kent  was  restored.* 

In  ^N'orthumbria,  a  similar  conversion  was  followed  by  Effect  of  the 
a  similar  reaction.      The   queen    of  king  Edwin    was    a  vasion  on 
daughter  of  Ethelbert,  and  a  Christian.     It  had  been  stip-ofthe 
ulated,  on  her  marriage,  that  Paulinus,  a  Christian  bishop, 
should  be   a  part   of  her  household.     Edwin  himself  at 
length  became  a  Christian,  and  multitudes  of  his  people  fol- 
lowed his  example.    The  East  Anglians  imitated  the  IS'orth- 
umbrians.      Idolatry  in   both    kingdoms   seemed  passing 
away.     But  the  pagan  power  of  Mercia  prevailed  over  the 
Christian  power  of  J^Torthumbria.     Edwin  perished  in  bat- 
tle.   Suddenly  every  thing  Christian  seemed  to  give  place  to 
the  return  of  the  old  superstitions.f 

The  year  in  which  Edwin  fell  was  desi2:nated  in  after  Eestoration 
, .         ,  T         1  , ,  r        ,     -XT-     1    of  Chris- 

times  the  unhappy  year,  so  memorable  was  it  to  the  JNorth-  tianityin 

1     .  o  .  .  T    .  rv.     .  »         1  1  Northum- 

umbrians  irom  its  crimes  and  its  sunermgs.  At  the  close  bria. 
of  it  Oswald  became  king.  During  the  last  reign  Oswald 
had  been  in  exile,  and,  in  common  with  many  of  his  friends, 
had  found  an  asylum  among  the  Christian  brotherhood 
of  lona.  He  had  there  become  a  Christian,  and  on  ascend- 
ing the  throne  of  I^orthumbria  was  desirous  of  seeing  the 
Christian  religion  restored  to  its  place  among  his  subjects. 
For  assistance  to  this  end  he  looked,  not  to  Rome,  nor  to 
Canterbury,  but,  as  was  natural,  to  his  former  teachers  in 
lona. 

There  is  a  point  of  land  on  the  coast  of  Argyleshire  called  Account  of 
the  Isle  of  Mull.     To  the  distant  mariner  it  appears  like  a 
part  of  the  main  land,  projecting  some  thirty  miles  into  the 
sea,  the  river  constituting  it  an  island,  being,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  inland  and  invisible.     At  a  distance 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  616.    Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  c.  5,  6. 
f  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  627.    Bede,  £Jccles.  Hist.  ii.  c.  9  et  seq.    Malms,  de  Reg. 
i.  c.  3. 


186 


SAXONS   AND  DANES. 


^cTa?.  t!"  ^f  ^ot  i^<^^^  tli'^n  l^alf  a  mile  from  the  extreme  point  of  Mull 
is  an  island,  of  not  more  than  three  miles  in  length,  and 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  breadth.  This  island  once  bore 
the  name  of  '  Druid's  Island.'  It  has  since  been  known  by 
thfe  name  of  Icolmkill,  which  means  the  island  of  Columba's 
cell :  and  Icolmkill  has  been  softened  in  more  recent  times 
into  lona.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Druids  driven  from 
Mona  found  an  asylum  in  this  place.  But  towards  the 
close  of  the  sixth  century  its  sacredness  came  from  its 
Christian,  and  not  from  its  Druid  residents.  Its  existing 
monuments  are  all  of  a  date  some  centuries  later  than  the 
age  now  under  consideration. 
fiinbt  ^^  ^*-  Columba  two  memoirs,  substantially  trustworthy, 

have  been  preserved.  In  common  with  many  men  who 
rose  to  his  kind  of  eminence  in  those  ages,  he  was  of  noble 
family.  He  was  connected  by  many  ties  both  with  Ireland 
and  Scotland.  His  settlement  in  lona,  at  the  head  of  the 
humble  brotherhood  who  submitted  to  his  authority,  dates 
from  654.  The  men  were  twelve  in  number,  and  the  boat 
which  bore  them  from  Ireland  was  of  rude  construction,  and 
covered  with  ox-hides.  But  the  history  of  this  man  and  of 
his  disciples,  is  the  history  of  men  honestly  sej)arated  to  the 
pursuit  and  communication  of  religious  knowledge.  They 
dwelt  in  structures  formed  of  rough-hewn  wood,  and  cov- 
ered with  reeds.  Everything  pertaining  to  their  condition 
was  in  keeping  in  such  apj)earances.  I^evertheless  they 
sent  oif  fraternities  to  settle  in  different  parts  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  and  every  such  settlement  was  a  centre  from 
which  missionaries  went  abroad  to  strengthen  the  faith  of 
Christians,  and  to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
still  left  in  the  land.  They  possessed  many  books,  labour- 
ed hard  to  multiply  them  by  transcription,  and  great  was 
the  value  they  set  on  them.  "What  learning  the  age 
possessed  was  in  their  keeping  ;  and  the  authority  they  as- 
signed to  the  Scriptures,  and  the  devout  sj^irit  in  which  they 
studied  them  were  most  exemplary."^ 

"When  Oswald  solicited  spiritual  help  from  his  former 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hut.  iii.  c.  i. — iv.     Adaraan,  Vita  Golumb.     Cumin,  Vita 
Columh.     Pinkerton,  Vita  Antiquce  Sanctorum.     Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  565. 


REVOLTJTION  IN  RELIGION.  187 

friends  in  lona,  they  sent  to  him  Aidan,  described  by  Bede  ^^^  Y' 
as  a  bishop,  and  as  a  man  of  singular  '  meekness,  piety,  and  ^idl^h© 
moderation.'  Aidan  chose  Lindisfarne,  tlie  spot  now  known  5f^rthum- 
by  the  name  of  '  Holy  Island,'  off  the  coast  of  JSTortlmmber-  ^""'^ 
land,  as  his  residence.  The  king,  says  Bede,  '  humbly  and 
willingly  gave  ear  in  all  cases  to  his  admonitions,  and  ap- 
plied himself  most  sedulously  to  build  and  extend  the 
church  of  Christ  in  his  kingdom.  So  that  when  the  bishop, 
who  did  not  perfectly  understand  the  English  tongue, 
preached  the  Gospel,  it  was  most  delightful  to  see  the  king 
himself  interpreting  the  Word  of  God  to  those  about  him  ; 
for  he  had  perfectly  learned  the  language  of  the  Scots  dur- 
ing his  long  banishment.  From  that  time  many  from  the 
region  of  the  Scots  came  daily  into  Britain,  and  preached 
the  Word  with  great  earnestness  to  those  provinces  of  the 
English  over  which  king  Oswald  presided.  Churches  were 
built ;  people  joyfully  flocked  together  to  hear  the  Word  ; 
possessions  were  given  by  the  bounty  of  the  king  to  build 
monasteries ;  the  English  youth  were  instructed  by  these 
Scottish  masters  ;  and  great  care  was  bestowed  on  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  church.'* 

Aidan,  it  seems,  w^as  not  the  first  man  sent  in  answer  to 
the  call  of  Oswald.  But  a  brother  named  Corman,  to  whom 
this  apostleship  was  first  assigned,  returned  to  lona  in  de- 
spair, describing  the  I^orthumbrians  as  too  barbarous  and 
stubborn  to  be  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel. 
The  brethren  listened  with  disappointment  and  sorrow  to 
these  tidings.  Presently  a  voice  from  the  crowd  said, 
'  Brother,  the  fault  has  been  with  you.  You  have  not  borne 
with  the  slowness  and  perverseness  of  your  hearers  as  you 
should  have  done.  You  should  have  administered  the  milk 
of  a  more  gentle  doctrine,  until,  being  sufficiently  nurtured 
by  such  means,  their  minds  might  have  been  raised  by  de- 
grees to  higher  truths.'  It  was  felt  that  the  speaker  had 
given  the  true  interpretation.  Tlie  office  was  now  devolved 
on  the  man  who  had  so  spoken,  and  the  speaker  was  Aidan. 
The  issue  justified  the  choice.  Aidan  became  the  apostle 
of  J^orthumbria.     He  traversed  its  length  and  breadth  on 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  c.  3.     Malms,  de  Reg.  iii.  c.  3. 


188 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  ir. 
CuAP.  7. 


The  Hep- 
tarchy is 
converted 
to  the  pro- 
fession of 
Chris- 
tianity. 


The  con- 
version of 
the  Anglo- 
Saxons 
only  par- 
tially of  Ko- 
man  origin. 


foot,  with  no  other  aid  than  his  wallet  and  his  staff.  To 
convert  the  pagan,  to  teach  the  ignorant,  to  comfort  the 
suffering,  to  befriend  the  poor,  were  the  objects  to  which 
his  life  was  devoted,  with  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  of  rare  oc- 
currence even  among  good  men.  So  thoroughly  did  Os- 
wald second  the  zeal  of  Aidan,  that  both  have  their  place 
as  saints  in  the  Eoman  calendar.* 

Oswald  married  a  daughter  of  Cynegils,  the  king  of 
Wessex,  and  his  influence  contributed  probably,  as  much 
as  the  preaching  of  Birinus,  to  bring  the  West  Saxons  to 
join  the  Christian  states  of  the  Heptarchy.  This  was  in 
635.  Dorchester  in  Oxfordshire  was  the  first  bishopric  in 
"Wessex.  In  the  same  year  the  East  Saxons  returned  to  the 
profession  of  Christianity.  In  665  the  powerful  kingdom 
of  Mercia  renounced  idolatry.  Penda,  pagan  and  ferocious 
as  he  may  have  been,  did  not  obstruct  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  in  his  dominions.  But  his  son  Penda  became  a 
Christian,  and  married  a  Christian  princess,  Alchfleda,  a 
daughter  of  Oswy  of  Northumbria.  When  Penda  received 
baptism,  his  thanes,  and  his  subjects  generally,  conformed 
to  the  new  worship.  These  events  left  Sussex  the  only 
country  adhering  to  the  old  religion  ;  and  there  it  was  re- 
nounced in  685,  under  the  preaching  of  an  able  Saxon  ec- 
clesiastic, Wilfrid,  the  ostentatious  and  litigious  bishop  of 
York.f 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  the  northern  half  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  Britain  was  brought  to  the  profession  of  Christianity 
by  the  direct  or  indirect  influence  of  the  disciples  of  Colum- 
ba.  Through  Bernicia  and  Deira,  the  influence  of  the 
Scottish  missionaries  extended  to  East  Anglia,  to  Mercia, 
and  even  to  Wessex.  Gratitude  is  due  to  poj)e  Gregory, 
and  to  the  ecclesiastics  sent  forth  by  him  to  this  country. 
Their  intentions  were  generous,  and  their  labours  in  a  great 
degree  successful.  But  had  no  thought  of  Britain  ever  oc- 
cupied the  mind  of  the  pious  Gregory,  or  of  the  monk  Au- 
gustine, it  is  clear  that  Britain  would  have  been  evangelized. 


*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.     Malms,  de  Reg.     Matt.  West, 
f  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  635-655.     Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  e.  Y  et  seq.     Malms. 
de  Reg.  i.  c.  3.     Matt.  Westmin.  a.d.  678. 


EEVOLrnON   IN   RELIGION.  189 

Had  the  work  been  left  to  the  brotherhood  of  lona,  it  would  book  il 
have  been  done.  In  the  absence,  however,  of  papal  inter-  — '-' 
ference,  the  field  would  not  have  been  left  to  the  Scots. 
The  proximity  of  our  soiithern  coast  to  Gaul,  would  have 
invited  missionaries  from  that  quarter.  Success  by  such 
agency  would  of  course,  have  brought  with  it  relations  to 
Rome,  and  nothing  could  have  prevented  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Church  from  becoming  a  part  of  the  great  ecclesiastical 
system  of  Europe  in  the  middle  Age.  It  is  a  fact,  how- 
ever, and  a  fact  not  sufficiently  remembered  by  English- 
men, that  the  conversion  of  our  Saxon  ancestors  to  Chris- 
tianity is  not  so  much  due  to  Roman  missionaries  as  to 
missionaries  from  another  quarter.  It  was  largely  realized 
by  other  labourers,  and  it  would  have  been  completed  by 
those  labourers,  had  the  work  been  allowed  to  remain  in 
their  hands. 

The  mere  change  of  country,  in  the  experience  of  the  ^^urab/'^t 
Anerlo-Saxons,  was  unfavourable  to  the  continuance  of  the  ^^'^i  cy^^nt 

o  7  — cnange  of 

same  religion.  Time  is  necessary  to  give  sanctity  to  places,  country. 
Their  power  to  awe  the  imagination  comes  not  from  what 
they  are,  so  much  as  from  the  shadows  of  the  past  which 
hover  about  them.  All  such  places  have  their  real  or  sup- 
posed histories,  and  those  histories  j)eople  the  thoughts  of 
the  worshippers  with  images  of  the  bygone.  'No  new  forest, 
in  any  new  region  of  the  earth,  could  have  aiFected  the 
mind  of  the  Saxon,  or  of  the  Dane,  as  their  own  German, 
or  Scandinavian  groves  had  affected  them.  To  have  left  the 
ancient  homes  of  their  gods  must  have  been  felt  at  times 
like  leaving  their  worship  altogether.  In  the  new  country, 
the  groves,  the  temples,  the  very  images  of  the  gods,  would 
all  be  new ;  and  the  effect  of  all  this  novelty  must  have 
been,  in  many  cases,  a  speedy  and  perceptible  abatement 
of  faith  in  their  old  divinities.  With  rude  heathen  nations, 
the  idea  has  always  been  prevalent,  that  the  earth  is  par- 
celled out  among  gods  as  among  men,  and  that  the  gods 
proper, to  a  country  are  those  which  have  been  in  a  sense 
naturalized  to  it.  There  would  grow  up  by  degrees,  ac- 
cordingly, both  with  Saxon  and  Dane,  a  feeling  that  their 
change   of  country  might  naturally  bring  with  it  some 


190  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^ch^p  ¥'  ^^^^^^  ^^  religion.  They  had  now  ceased  to  be  sea-kings. 
Tlie  generation  soon  grew  up  to  wliom  industrial  and  set- 
tled habits  were  familiar — the  rearing  of  cattle,  and  the 
tilling  of  the  ground.  Some  taste  for  a  more  regular  and 
civilized  life  was  thus  induced.  In  such  things,  even  the 
Britons  were  capable  of  becoming  the  teachers  of  the  Sax- 
ons. It  is  at  this  season,  so  favourable  to  change,  that  the 
Christian  religion  crosses  their  path ;  and  this  religion 
comes  to  them  as  that  of  the  most  powerful  and  civilized 
peoples  of  their  own  time  and  of  past  time.  Some  of  the 
monuments  of  that  civilization  they  had  seen.  But  the 
rumour  of  what  might  be  seen  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, where  all  the  civic  greatness  of  past  ages  seemed  to 
have  become  tributary  to  the  religious  faith  of  the  present, 
suggested  comparisons  w^hich  could  hardly  fail  to  awaken 
a  wholesome  suspicion  in  regard  to  the  claims  of  their  own 
faith.  It  was  the  destiny  of  all  the  northern  nations,  to  de- 
spise the  civilization  of  the  south  for  a  season,  and  then  to 
adopt  it. 

Bede  relates  an  incident  showing  how  readily  the  Sax- 
ons learnt  to  contemn  their  sacred  places  in  this  country. 
When  the  Gospel  was  first  preached  in  N^orthumbria, 
Coifi,  the  high-priest,  urged  the  king  to  embrace  it,  declar- 
ing that  he  was  himself  satisfied  that  the  gods  they  wor- 
shipj)ed  were  imaginary.  To  testify  his  sincerity,  he  prof- 
fered to  be  himself  the  man  who  should  first  defy  and 
profane  the  objects  they  had  been  wont  to  fear  and  to  hold 
sacred.  The  Saxon  priest  was  not  to  bear  arms,  nor  even 
to  mount  a  horse  ;  but  Coifi  called  for  a  horse  and  spear, 
and  before  the  king,  and  the  crowd  of  courtiers  and  peo- 
ple, he  rode  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  temple,  and  threw 
his  spear  with  such  force  across  the  sacred  enclosure,  that 
it  entered  the  opposite  wall.  Many'  of  the  people  looked  on 
with  astonishment,  expecting  to  see  the  god  avenge  the 
insult.  But  no  sign  followed  ;  and  they  then  did  the  bid- 
ding of  the  priest,  in  aiding  to  demolish  the  idol  and  his 
sanctuary.* 

It  was  another  advantage  on  the  side  of  those  who  had 

*  Bede,  £:ccles.  Hist.  ii.  c  13. 


EEVOLIJTION  m  EELIGION-.  191 

to  commend  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  men  in  Anglo-Saxon  ^^^^  ^^ 
Britain,  that  in  their  time  the  great  era  of  theological  con-  g„s7i;;;i^n 
troversy  had  reached  its  close.     Nothing  need  be  said  here  llfei!^' 
with  regard  to  those  subtle  distinctions  concerning  the  Di-  ^^^''^^y- 
vine  Nature  by  which  not  only  the  churches,  but  the  na- 
tions, of  the  East  and  West  were  so  often  shaken,  through 
several   centuries.     The   Christianity  embraced  by  all  the 
northern  nations  who  had  descended  southward,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  the  Franks,  had  been  Arian  Christianity. 
But  before  the  mission  of  Augustine,  Spain,  the  last  of  the 
Arian  kingdoms,  had  signified  its  adhesion  to  the  Catholic 
creed.* 

Of  course,  the  orthodox  doctrine  did  not  preclude  the  Kesem- 

...  .    .  .  .  blancesbe- 

teacher  of  Christianity  from  giving  an  impressive  j)rom-  l^^^Jj^^^®^ 
inence  to  the  unity  and  supremacy  of  God.  Tacitus,  and  JJiJ^J^^J^s- 
other  authorities,  allege  that  the  more  ancient  creed  of  the 
Teutonic  race  embraced  a  lofty  monotheism.  If  such  was 
the  fact,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  doctrine  was 
not  wholly  lost  among  the  Saxons  and  the  Northmen  ;  and 
those  among  them  who  retained  any  hold  on  this  truth, 
would  not  only  be  among  the  most  likely  to  listen  to  the 
claims  of  the  Gospel,  but  the  most  likely  to  influence  others 
in  its  favour.  Those  who  had  learned  to  look  upwards  with 
awe  to  one  Illimitable  Nature  as  over  all,  would  here  find 
their  highest  conceptions  realized  and  surpassed.f  The  One 
Existence,  and  whose  All-presence  the  interminable  forest, 
the  boundless  plain,  or  the  mystery  of  space,  was  supposed 
to  represent,  would  be  to  them  no  longer  as  an  '  Unknown 
God.'  The  custom  of  ascribing  the  attributes  of  almost 
every  other  god  to  Woden  was,  as  we  believe,  a  deteriorated 
form  of  this  great  tnith. 

The  priest  Coifi,  mentioned  before,  says,  '  I  have  been  JV^,^^\ 
persuaded  long  since  that  we  worship  what  has  no  existence.  ^^^^^Jj^^g^ 
The  more  diligently  I  have  sought  truth  in  that  direction, 
the  less  have  I  found  it.':]:     This  doubt  and  inquietude,  we 
may  suppose,  was  much  more  common  in  those  times  than 

*  Neander,    Eccles.   Hist.      Milman's    History  of   Latin    Christianity,   ii. 
269,  270. 

f  Tacitus,  Gennania,  ix.     Mallet,  North.  Ant.  c.  iv. 
X  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  ii.  c.  13. 


192  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 


BOOK 
Chap, 


■  II-  history  has  reported.    It  was  natural  it  should  be  felt  as  the 

northern  darkness  came  under  the  influence  of  the  southern 

light.  Error  was  exposed.  The  mind  was  so  far  prepared 
to  receive  truth.  When  Edwin,  king  of  E"orthumbria,  con- 
sulted his  thanes  on  the  question  of  granting  a  hearing  to  a 
Christian  teacher,  an  aged  man  was  heard  to  say, '  To  me,  O 
king,  the  life  we  now  live,  in  comparison  to  that  which  is 
unknown  to  us,  is  lik6  the  swift  flight  of  a  sparrow  through 
the  hall  in  w^hich  you  are  seated  at  your  meat  during  a 
wintry  night.  The  fire  burns  in  the  midst.  The  room  is 
warmed  thereby.  Storms  of  rain  and  snow  rage  abroad. 
The  sparrow  enters  at  the  one  door,  and  soon  departs  at  the 
other.  'Whilst  within  he  is  safe  for  his  little  season,  but  he 
soon  passes  away  into  the  dark  winter  whence  he  came. 
So  to  me  is  the  life  of  man.  He  comes  for  a  short  space. 
But  of  what  went  before,  or  what  is  to  follow,  we  are 
wholly  in  ignorance.  If  this  new  doctrine  can  give  us  some 
certainty  on  such  matters,  it  is  fitting  we  should  hear  it  and 
submit  to  it.'  The  historian  adds,  that  many  elders  and 
king's  councillors  spoke  to  the  same  efi'ect.*  We  may  be 
sure  that  ISTorthumbria  was  not  singular  in  possessing  men 
among  its  '  elders '  and  '  councillors '  influenced  by  such 
thoughts.  The  effect  of  Christianity  on  such  minds  was  to 
conduct  them  from  doubt  to  certainty. 

The  new  ]3nt  tliis  chanerc  was  not  a  transition  from  error  to  un- 

fa ith  was  ^  ^     ^ 

not  pure,  niixcd  truth.  Christianity  gave  these  Teutons  a  priesthood 
in  the  place  of  that  which  they  were  to  abandon,  and  a  sac- 
rifice for  sin  in  place  of  those  which  they  were  to  ofier  no 
longer.  But  this  priesthood  had  diverged  considerably 
from  its  primitive  model,  and  this  sacrifice  took  with  it 
ideas  and  adjuncts  unknown  in  the  purer  ages  of  the  church. 
Still,  that  religion  should  have  its  ministers  separated  to 
their  ofiace,  and  vested  with  some  dignity  and  authority  ; 
and  that  sin  should  be  expiated  by  sacrifice,  were  Teutonic 
ideas,  which  were  rather  purified  and  elevated,  than  super- 
seded, by  Christianity,  It  was,  moreover,  quite  in  harmony 
with  German  thinking  that  the  Supreme  Being  should  not  be 
the  immediate  object  of  approach  in  worship.     The  human- 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist  ii.  c.  13. 


EEVOLTJTION   IN   RELIGION.  193 

ity  of  Christ  was  to  tlie  Saxon,  the  sura  of  all  teaching  as  to  book  il 
what  man  should  be.  It  was,  also,  to  him,  a  manifestation  — - ' 
of  all  he  could  need  to  know,  in  regard  to  the  moral  charac- 
ter of  the  Creator.  But  even  this  softened  presentation  of 
the  Divine  through  the  human,  did  not  embrace  enough  of 
the  descending  element  to  meet  all  the  cravings  of  the  re- 
ligious spiritt  Hence  the  worship  of  the  Virgin.  The  pity 
of  woman  was  thought  to  be  more  likely  to  yield  to  entreaty 
than  the  pity  of  man,  even  that  of  the  best  of  men — of  the 
One  Perfect  Man.  For  the  man  in  this  case  is  not  merely 
a  man.  His  nature  is  Divine  as  well  as  Human.  Hence  . 
even  the  humanity  of  the  Eedeemer  came  to  be  regarded  as 
too  pure,  too  awful,  too  widely  separated  from  our  frail  na- 
ture to  be  approached  without  fear.  In  this  manner  the  way 
was  prepared  for  the  worship,  not  only  of  the  Virgin,  but 
of  the  whole  host  of  saintly  mediators  which  have  their 
place  in  the  Eoman  calendar.  To  worship  Deity  through 
humanity  was  felt  to  be  the  only  possible  worship  ;  and  the 
less  the  humanity  should  be  removed  from  our  own  actual 
experiences  the  better,  so  there  might  be  goodness  enough 
to  pity,  and  power  enough  to  help. 

With  the  authority  of  revelation  in  their  favour,  Chris- 
tians should  have  known  how  to  dispense  with  the  ser- 
vices of  these  subordinate  mediators.  But  the  tendency 
of  human  nature  is  everywhere  towards  the  mythology  and 
worship  which  have  their  full  development  in  polytheism. 

One  feature  of  the  new  religion  must  have  served  to  oid  and 
commend  it  strongly  to  the  acceptance  of  the  Teutonic  showed  the 
races — its  respect  for  the  character  of  woman.     The  women  spect  for 
of  the  Germans  often  dwelt  in  camps  with  their  husbands. 
Tlieir  children  were  born  and  educated   amidst  the   spec- 
tacles and  dangers  of  war.     Even  among  the  pirate  hordes 
of  Scandinavia,  all  the  better  elements   of  the   chivalry 
known  in  a  later  age  in  Europe  may  be  found,  imbued  with 
some  loftier  qualities,  which  our  later  chivalry  was  too 
Asiatic  in  its  texture  to  embrace.     Among  the  Teutonic 
nations,  women  were  the  companions  and  equals  of  the 
men,  not  the  mere  instruments  of  their  pleasures.     The 
strong  feeling  of  the  Asiatic  is  short-lived.     He  soon  learns 
Vol.  1.— 13 


194:  SAXONS    AND   DANES. 

^(SiA?.  ?■  ^^  dispense  with  his  toy  when  obtained.     Even  the  Greeks 

and  Romans  knew  little  of  the  Germanic  sentiment  in  this 

respect.  The  penalties  with  which  the  northern  nations 
guarded  the  chastity  of  women,  and  the  worship  shown  by 
them  towards  virgins  who  remained  such  for  religious  rea- 
sons, is  known  from  many  sources  besides  the  Germania  of 
Tacitus.  ^Nothing  seemed  them  so  fitting,  as  an  expression 
of  the  religious  spirit,  as  the  consecration  of  women  to  its 
service.  In  the  East,  the  highest  function  of  religion — in- 
spiration, was  almost  confined  to  men.  In  the  north  of 
Europe  the  rule  was  reversed.  The  highest  gifts  there 
came  upon  women.  The  Yeleda  of  Tacitus  had  her  succes- 
sors among  the  believers  in  the  Edda.  In  all  this  we  see  a 
state  of  mind  disposing  the  Saxon  and  the  Dane  to  accept 
the  prescribed  worship  of  the  Yirgin,  and  to  conform  to  a 
system  which  raised  female  piety  to  the  place  of  the  saint 
and  intercessor,  awarding  the  highest  praise  to  those  who 
chose  virginity  in  this  life,  that  they  might  rise  to  the 
higher  purity  of  the  next.* 
Similar  Naturally  allied  with  the  worship  of  saints  was  the  wor- 

regard  to      ship  of  auffcls.     J^atural,  too,  was  it,  that  the  worship  of 

objects  of  -•-  ^  '  '  \  1.1 

worship.  the  good  amoug  created  natures,  should  be  connectea  with 
fear  of  the  evil  among  them.  The  mythology  which 
brought  benignant  natures  into  near  connexion  with  human 
affairs  for  benevolent  ends,  would  be  sure  to  bring  malig- 
nant natures  into  action  for  ends  not  benevolent.  Heathen- 
ism, creature  worship,  has  always  presented  these  two  as- 
.  pects.  In  this  view,  the  Christianity  of  the  seventh  cen- 
tury had  become  too  nearly  assimilated  to  the  false  religions 
to  which  it  should  have  been  opposed,  and  which  it  should 
have  superseded.  As  the  long  disputes  of  the  church  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  the  Deity  came  to  an  end,  men  seemed 
to  fall  into  the  habit  of  thinking  less  and  less  of  the  presence 
of  the  Divine  Being,  and  appear  to  see  the  government  of 
mundane  things  as  if  left  more  and  more  in  the  hands  of 
these  subordinate  agencies.  Hence  the  spiritual  revolution 
accomplished  by  the  Christianity  of  this  period  was  much 
more  limited  and  imperfect  than  it  should  have  been. 

*  Tacit.  Qerm.  viii.-xi.    Hi&t.  iv.  16.    Mallet,  North.  Antiq.  c.  viii.-xi. 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  195 

In  the  conflict  which  come  up  between  the  heathenism  book  il 

CiiAP.  7. 

oF  the  Saxon  and  the  Dane  and  this  form  of  Christianity,  ^^ — '-' 

"^  '  Three  great 

three  Sfreat  results  are  observable.     The  first  consists  in  the  '<^«"i4  !»- 

o  ^  volved  In 

class  of  facts  presented  in  the  character  and  history  of  the  {fJn^^f  Kefi 
more  ambitious  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy,  who  became  in-  ^^^ 
tent  on  raising  their  order  to  the  position  of  a  new  power  in 
the  state.  The  second,  in  such  facts  as  had  their  origin  in 
the  ascetic  spirit  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  the  period. 
The  third,  in  such  effects  as  served  to  show  the  great  gain 
to  humanity  from  the  displacing  of  the  heathen  faith  by  the 
Christian,  notwithstanding  the  evils  arising  from  the  two 
sources  above  named. 

Where  the   supreme    power  is   strong   and   arbitrary,  Eise  of 
whether  in  rude  communities,  or  in  a  civilized  despotism,  power  in 

'  ,  ^  'the  Anglo- 

the  power  of  the  mmisters  of  religion  has  oeen  commonly  saxon 
felt  as  a  needful  check  on  its  excesses.  Barbarian  chiefs 
trusting  to  their  sword,  or  monarchs  living  in  the  midst  of 
the  splendours  and  flatteries  of  an  Asiatic  sovereignty,  have 
been  disposed  to  look  with  less  apprehension  on  the  power 
of  the  priest,  than  on  power  as  existing  elsewhere.  To 
listen  to  the  expostulations  of  a  priest  has  been  felt  as  de- 
tracting nothing  from  their  greatness,  inasmuch  as  the  voice 
of  the  priest  might  be  the  voice  of  the  authority  whence 
that  of  kings  themselves  is  supposed  by  such  men  to  have 
been  derived.  But  the  strength  of  the  priest  must  be  sim- 
ply moral  or  spiritual  strength ;  and  the  contests  arising 
between  sovereign  and  priest,  accordingly,  must  often  seem 
to  be  maintained  between  belligerents  whose  resources  are 
very  unequal.  But  if  the  clergy  were  bound  to  feel  that 
their  weapons  were  not  carnal,  they  could  readily  persuade 
themselves  that  what  they  might  not  do  by  force,  they  were 
at  liberty  to  accomplish  by  such  other  means  as  were  at 
their  command.  Here,  as  everywhere,  craft  came  to  be 
very  largely  the  refuge  of  the  weak  against  the  strong.^ 
Here,  too,  as  everywhere,  the  apparent  necessity  for  avail- 
ing themselves  of  such  means,  seemed  to  change  the  nature 
of  the  means.  The  disingenuous,  the  false,  often  ceased  to 
appear  as  they  had  been  wont  to  appear.     That  there  are 

*  Heercn,  Researches :  Persia,  c  ii. ;  Egypt,  app.  §  iv. 


196  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

"cLa?  7^'  circumstances  in  which  ends  sanctify  means,  is  a  maxim 

which  had  been  received  and  acted  upon  very  widely  long 

before  Rome,  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  came  into  existence. 
This  inversion  of  moral  feeling  in  the  governed,  is  one  of 
the  effects  sure  to  be  produced  by  a  harsh  and  arbitrary- 
sway  on  the  part  of  those  who  govern. 

In  comparison  with  the  barbarian  chiefs  who  led  the 
wari'iors  of  the  north  southward,  the  Christian  clergy  whom 
they  encountered  in  these  new  regions  might  seem  to  be 
utterly  powerless.  But  these  clergy  were  the  ministers  of 
the  God  of  these  new  regions  ;  and  whether  attempting  to 
convert  the  barbarous  strangers,  or  to  influence  their  con- 
duct when  converted,  these  men  always  spoke  in  the  name 
of  their  God.  It  was  natural,  in  such  circumstances,  that 
the  clergy  should  be  disposed  to  magnify  their  office.  It 
was  the  one  instrument  by  which  they  might  hope  to  pro- 
tect themselves,  and  those  who  looked  up  to  them  as  pro- 
tectors.'^ 
Policy  of  Motives  arising  from  this  source — motives  by  no  meafts 

the  Medise-  ^  -^ 

nSt  wh"on     ^'^<^%  selfish,  or  wholly  insincere — ^prompted  the  clergy  to 
unreason-     criyQ  their  sauctiou  iu  SO  loTs^e  a  measure  to  the  popular 

able  or  in-      c5  o  s:    sr 

sincere.  faith  iu  miraclcs.  '  Many  of  them  must  have  been  aware 
that  this  credulity  of  the  people  was  often  grossly  abused. 
But  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  clergy  themselves 
were  firm  believers  in  the  perpetuity  of  miraculous  powers 
in  the  church.  Every  reader  of  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory must  derive  this  impression  from  it.  Such  men  could 
not  of  course  be  insensible  to  the  value  of  such  apparent 
attestations  to  their  own  authority,  and  would  not  be  much 
inclined  to  disturb  the  popular  belief  by  indulging  in 
doubtful  criticism  on  such  matters.  Heathen  priests  every- 
where laid  claim  to  prophecy  and  miracle.  They  made  the 
interference  of  their  gods  in  human  affairs  to  be  perpetual. 

*  Ethelbert,  the  first  Anglo-Saxon  king  who  professed  Christianity,  was  in- 
duced to  make  the  penalty  for  wrong  done  to  church  property  twelve  times 
greater  than  was  provided  against  the  same  wrongs  as  done  to  the  property  of 
the  laity ;  and  to  the  latest  period  in  Anglo-Saxon  history  the  difference  in  favour 
of  the  church  was  as  seven  to  one.  So  of  the  private  possessions  of  churchmen — 
the  penalties  which  guarded  the  property  of  the  bishop  were  elevenfold,  the 
priests  ninefold,  the  deacons  sixfold — Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England^ 
i.  393. 


REVOLUTION  IN  RELIGION.  197      . 

They  pointed  to  a  hereafter  of  happiness  or  the  contrary  as  ^§^^  ]^ 

awaiting  those  whom  they  were  wont  themselves  to  pro-     

nounce  as  worthy  or  unworthy.  Tlie  Christian  clergy  had 
to  deal  with  these  pretensions.  They  did  so  by  claiming 
miraculous  powers  for  the  church ;  by  bringing  many  super- 
natural agencies  into  the  concerns  of  this  world ;  and  too 
often  by  materializing  heaven  and  hell  to  the  extent  deemed 
necessary  adequately  to  affect  the  hopes  and  fears  of  the 
society  about  them.  How  far  they  were  themselves  deceived 
in  making  such  representations  cannot  now  be  determined. 
But  in  the  prevalence  of  such  beliefs  and  feelings  they  found 
the  machinery  of  their  power,  and  freely  and  skilfully  did 
they  avail  themselves  of  such  appliances.  Tlie  help  of  this 
kind  which  they  needed  came  ;  and  by  means  of  it,  in  great 
part,  they  were  to  become  a  new  power,  in  the  state  of 
things  which  followed  upon  the  new  settlement  of  the 
northern  nations. 

In  prosecuting  this  policy  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy,  in  J^^^^^^{^ 
common  with  their  order  over  Europe,  made  a  free  use  of 
the  confessional,  and  of  their  supposed  authority  to  absolve 
delinquents  from  their  sins,  and  to  dispense  the  gifts  of  grace. 
Documents  have  come  down  to  our  time  which  show,  that 
not  only  the  common  sins  of  the  people,  but  all  the  secret 
and  imaginary  forms  of  vice,  had  been  reduced  to  a  system, 
that  the  confessor  might  be  adequately  prepared  for  the  dis- 
charge of  his  office.  Secret  things  belonging  to  personal 
history,  to  family  history,  to  all  history,  were  thus  to  be  laid 
open ;  and  vices  which  had  never  entered  the  thoughts  of 
the  penitent,  were  thus  made  familiar  to  the  imagination 
by  the  questionings  of  the  priest.  With  these  almost  end- 
less distinctions  of  evil,  came  a  scheme  of  penalties  of  almost 
endless  elaboration.  In  some  of  these  penalties  we  may 
trace  a  concern  for  the  sincere  restoration  of  the  offender ; 
but  in  the  many  fiscal  exactions  which  were  made,  if  some 
care  was  shown  for  the  poor,  there  was  no  want  of  care  for 
the  church  and  the  clergy.'""     At  the  same  time,  it  was  zeal- 

*  In  one  of  these  directories  for  priests,  the  penitent  after  confessing  all 
remembered  sins,  of  the  mind,  and  the  flesh,  that  nothing  may  be  omitted,  is 
made  to  say  :  'I  confess  to  thee  all  the  sins  of  my  body,  of  skin,  of  flesh,  and  of 
bones,  and  of  sinews,  and  of  veins,  and  of  gristles,  and  of  tongue,  and  of  lips, 


198 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


Exaction 
of  church 
dues. 


■^clJip  ?■  ^^sty  inculcated,  that  without  confession  there  could  be  no 

absolution,  and  that  without  absolution  there  could  be  no 

fitness  to  partake  of  the  communion — no  salvation.*  Of 
course  the  Roman  clergy  brought  this  scheme  with  them  ; 
and  the  more  they  were  able  to  free  themselves  from  the 
presense  of  the  Scottish  missionaries,  the  more  easy  it  became 
to  act  on  this  system  in  all  its  parts. 

Concerning  some  other  uses  to  which  this  theory  of 
church  power  was  applied,  a  judgment  may  be  formed  from 
the  following  canon  enacted  under  king  Edgar  :  '  And  we 
enjoin  that  the  priest  remind  the  people  of  what  they  ought 
to  do  to  God  for  dues  in  tithes,  and  in  other  things  :  first- 
plough  alms,  fifteen  days  after  Easter  ;  and  a  tithe  of  young 
by  Pentecost ;  and  of  earth-fruits  by  All-Saints  ;  and  '  Eom- 
feoh'  by  St.  Peter's  mass  ;  and  church-scot  by  Martinmas.'f 
The  priest  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  church,  was  required  to 
preach  to  the  ])eople  every  Sunday — ^we  do  not  know  how 
often  his  preaching  was  on  such  topics.:}:  In  regard  to  the 
clergy  of  the  Middle  Age  generally,  some  excuse  should  be 
made,  inasmuch  as  they  were  shepherds  who  had  to  sustain 
their  authority  over  fiocks  not  always  given  to  obedience. 

The  clergy  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  who  made  the  largest 
use  of  these  elements  of  rule^  were  distinguished  by  the 
homage  they  were  disposed  to  render  to  the  Papal  See. 
They  were  wise  enough  to  discern  the  advantage  of  allying 
everything  of  this  nature  with  the  prestige  to  be  derived 
from  the  fame,  the  splendour,  and  -the  authority  of  Rome. 
The  first  man,  in  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church, 
who  became  conspicuous  by  his  zeal  in  this  direction,  was 
Wilfrid,  bishop  of  York. 

and  of  gums,  and  of  teeth,  and  of  hair,  and  of  marrow,  and  of  every  thing,  soft 
or  hard,  wet  or  dry,' — Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England^  404. 

*  Ibid.  158,  159,  415. 

f  Ancient  Laws^  400.  For  the  fines  imposed  in  ease  of  neglect  on  any  of 
these  points,  and  the  mode  in  which  distraint  was  to  be  made,  see  the  Laws  of 
Ethelred,  147. 

\  Ancient  Laws^  400.  Laws  of  Alfred,  24.  Laws  of  Alfred  and  Gothrum, 
'IZ.  Laws  of  Edgar,  114,  146,  156.  Some  of  the  laws  designed  to  regulate  the 
conduct  of  the  clergy  are  curious.  Priests,  besides  their  own  '  lore,'  are  required 
to  learn  some  handicraft.  Monmnenta  Ecclesiastica,  396,  400,  447,  448.  Tliey 
were  not  to  be  glccmen,  hunters,  or  hawkers,  but  to  apply  themselves  to  their 
books,  and  to  have  orthodox  books  (398,  400-1,  418).  It  is  enjoined,  too,  that 
no  priest  should  take  the  scholar  of  another  (396).     What  does  this  mean  ? 


REVOLUTION  IN   RELIGION.  199 

Wilfrid  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  family  in  Korthnmbria.  ^§^^  y- 
He  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  of  good  parts,  -^{j^^ 
restless  and  energetic,  and  withal,  we  must  add,  not  a  little 
vain  and  ambitious.  With  these  last  qualities,  however,  he 
combined  a  sufficient  amount  of  prudence  and  self-govern- 
ment to  allow  of  his  acquiring  considerable  reputation  as  a 
religious  man.  His  Christian  sincerity,  indeed,  should  be 
conceded.  Eut  his  passion  appears  to  have  been,  to  associate 
with  the  faith  he  professed  as  much  of  secular  pomp  and 
authority  as  might  well  be  brought  into  such  a  relation. 
His  principal  biographer  has  disfigured  his  early  life  with 
fictions,  and  is  so  manifestly  partial,  that  all  statements  from 
that  quarter  must  be  accepted  with  caution.* 

In  654  Wilfrid  made  a  journey  to  Home.  There  the 
young  Saxon  was  much  flattered  by  persons  high  in  author- 
ity, as  a  man  of  no  ordinary  promise.  After  sitting  at  the 
feet  of  learned  men  in  Eome,  and  spending  several  years  in 
some  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  Continent,  Wilfrid  return- 
ed a  travelled  man,  to  be  looked  upon  with  wonder  by  many 
of  his  homely  countrymen. 

The  first  grateful  return  made  by  Wilfrid  for  the  favour 
shown  to  him  in  Rome,  was  in  opposing  himself  to  the 
Scottish  clergy  on  the  question  about  the  time  of  keeping 
Easter,  and  on  some  other  matters.  This  question  about  Eas- 
ter was  attended  by  some  material  inconveniences.  In  the 
family  of  the  king  of  I^orthumbria,  for  example,  the  queen, 
who  had  been  educated  in  Kent,  followed  the  Roman  cus- 
tom, and  might  be  seen  humbling  herself  as  in  Lent,  while 
her  husband,  who  followed  his  Scottish  instructors,  might 
be  quite  otherwise  employed,  because  with  him  the  season 
for  humiliation  had  given  place  to  the  season  for  rejoicing. 

It  was,  accordingly,  deemed  expedient  that  a  meeting  of  Jt^^Mtby!"' 
the  two  parties  should  be  convened,  that  so  this  diversity 
of  usage  might,  if  possible,  be  brought  to  an  end.  The 
parties  met  at  Whitby.  Wilfrid,  accompanied  by  the  bishop 
of  Paris,  and  other  distinguished  men  took  the  Romanist 
side.  Colman,  bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  and  his  Scottish 
brethren,  pleaded  the  authority  of  the  line  of   tradition, 

*  Eddius,  Vit  S.  Wilfridi.     Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  v.  c.  19,  et  alibu 


200 


SAXONS  AND  DANES. 


^chS.  "•  t^^'ough  Anatolins  and  Columba,  to  the  Apostle  John.     To 

the  authority  of  Columba  Wilfrid  opposed  that  of  St.  Peter, 

'  to  whom  the  keys  of  heaven  had  been  given.'  Here  the 
king  interposed  to  ask,  '  Is  it  so  ;  do  you  admit  that  St.  Pe- 
ter has  the  keys  of  heaven  V  Colman,  it  is  said,  replied  in 
the  affirmative.  '  Then  I  decide  for  St.  Peter,'  said  the  king, 
'  as  I  know  not  what  the  consequence  may  be  of  doing 
otherwise.' 

Tliis  matter  being  settled  thus  summarily,  the  tonsure 
question  remained.  Tlie  Scottish  brethren  shaved  the  hair 
from  the  front  of  their  head  in  the  form  of  a  crescent.  The 
Romans  removed  it  from  the  crown  of  the  head  in  the  form 
of  a  circle.  On  this  weighty  matter  the  king  was  silent. 
But  "Wilfrid  urged  the  authority  of  St.  Peter  for  the  tonsure, 
as  for  the  kee]3ing  of  Easter,  and  insisted  that  the  monks  of 
lona  must  have  borrowed  their  usage  from  Simon  Magus.* 
One  thing  is  clear,  if  Wilfrid  did  not  bring  much  learning 
to  this  discussion,  he  brought  an  abundance  of  effrontery 
an*d  dogmatism.  From  this  time  the  Poman  custom  gained 
ground,  and  at  no  distant  day  became  general.  Colman 
relinquished  his  bishopric  and  returned  to  lona. 

I^ot  long  after  this  discussion  at  Whitby,  Wilfrid  was 
chosen  bishop  of  York.  But,  unhappily,  of  all  the  bishops 
then  in  England,  one  only  was  foimd  to  be  free  from  the 
schismatic  taint  of  the  Scots  in  the  matter  of  Easter  and 
the  tonsure — a  fact  which  suggests  much  in  regard  to  the 
extent  of  the  field  which  had  been  covered  by  the  labours 
of  the  Scots  in  England  down  to  this  period.  In  this  diffi- 
culty, Wilfrid  resolved  to  seek  ordination  in  France.  At 
Compiegne,  the  zeal  of  the  Saxon  ecclesiastic  in  the  cause  of 
the  true  Catholic  discipline  was  honoured  by  the  presence  of 
twelve  prelates  at  his  consecration.  The  gilded  chair  in 
which  Wilfrid  was  placed,  was  borne  aloft  by  the  same  num- 
ber of  episcopal  hands — no  person  of  a  lower  dignity  being 
allowed  to  touch  it.  So  gratifying  to  the  stranger  were  these 
marks  of  esteem,  that  a  long  interval  passed,  it  is  said  three 
years,  before  his  return.  In  the  meanwhile  another  had  been 
appointed  to  his  see.     But  one  of  the  first  things  done  by 


*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  5iL  c.  25 


EEVOLTJTION  IN   RELIGION.  201 

Theodore,  the  new  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  to  secure  book  il 

the  re-election  of  Wilfrid  to  the  see  of  York.*  — '- ' 

In  this  position  the  bishop  found  means  to  gratify  his  iiis  disputes 
taste  for  splendour,  and  by  liis  novel  achievements  in  archi-  Tild  xheo- 
tecture,  in  decoration,  and  in  other  matters  of  ecclesiastical 
pageantry,  he  tilled  the  country  with  talk  and  wonder. 
Even  the  king  and  the  court,  it  was  said,  were  overshadowed 
by  the  bishop  and  his  cathedral.  But  with  tastes  of  this  de- 
scription, Wilfrid  could  blend,  upon  occasion,  a  monastic  se- 
verity of  manners.  He  well  knew,  as  all  sagacious  church- 
men have  known,  how  to  make  these  opposite  elements  work 
towards  one  result. 

Ethelreda,  the  queen  of  Egfrid  of  ITorthumbria,  had 
made  a  vow  of  virginity.  It  is  said  that  a  former  husband 
had  respected  that  vow.  Wilfrid,  in  his  functions  as  a  priest, 
decided  that  Egfrid  ought  to  respect  it,  and  went  so  far  as 
to  favour  the  escape  of  the  queen  to  a  convent.  Egfrid 
deeply  resented  this  proceeding.  Ercemburga,  whom  he 
afterwards  married,  regarded  Wilfrid  with  a  still  deepfer 
aversion.  She  pointed  to  his  buildings,  his  lands,  his  hospi- 
talities, and  his  followers  and  retainers,  and  to  all  as  showing 
that  the  man  who  could  play  the  monk  so  demurely,  when 
that  mood  might  avail  him,  was  resolved  on  being  account- 
ed the  greatest  in  the  land,  the  king  not  excepted.f 

Theodore  of  Canterbury  was  a  Greek  of  Tarsus,  who,  at 
the  request  of  the  king  of  Kent,  had  been  chosen  by  the 
pope  to  fill  that  see.  He  became  intent  on  adjusting  the 
affairs  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  churches,  so  as  to  secure  conform- 
ity throughout  the  Heptarchy  to  the  authority  and  usage  of 
the  see  of  Canterbury.  In  prosecution  of  this  object  he  as- 
sembled a  council  at  Hertford,  and  proceeded  to  divide 
large  bishoprics  into  smaller,  both  in  East  Anglia  and  in 
Mercia.  His  next  step  was  to  do  the  same  with  the  bishopric 
of  York.;!:     Resistance  had  been  made  to  what  was  done  in 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  c.  2Y.     Eddius,  c.  xii, 

f  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iv.  c.  19,  20.  Historia  Eliemis,  i.  26.  Mabill.  Act. 
SS.  Ord.  S.  Bened.  ii.  711.  It  is  singular  that  Eddius  speaks  of  Wilfrid  as  hav- 
ing a  son.  No  reproach  was  cast  on  him  on  this  account.  We  must  suppose, 
therefore,  that  his  son  was  born  in  wedlock.  But  when  did  he  marry  ?  Scarcely 
before  he  was-  a  priest.     We  know  nothing,  however,  of  his  wife. 

\  Pope  Gregory  had  urged  that  the  bishoprics  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  should  be 


202 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


Wilfrid 
nppeals  to 
Rome. 


^cSi?  "■  -^^^^  Anglia  and  Mercia  ;  but  two  malcontent  prelates  had 
been  deposed  by  tlie  firm  band  of  the  metropolitan.  Wilfrid 
protested  against  the  contemplated  change  in  his  diocese. 
Egfrid  and  Theodore  insisted  on  submission.  To  their 
amazement  Wilfrid  signified  his  intention  to  take  the  case  to 
the  Papal  See,  and  to  seek  judgment  upon  it  there.  This 
was  to  pour  oil  upon  the  flame.  That  the  pope  might  advise, 
or  counsel,  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical  matters  in  England,  or 
elsewhere,  was  understood.  But  that  he  should  be  appealed 
to  in  this  manner,  as  an  authority,  and  an  authority  beyond 
and  above  both  king  and  metropolitan,  was  regarded  in  this 
country  at  that  time,  as  a  piece  of  extravagant  presumption, 
bordering  upon  treason.* 

Wilfrid,  however,  was  better  versed  than  his  opponents  in 
the  precedents  and  maxims  of  the  papacy  in  relation  to  such 
cases.  He  knew  that  such  acknowdedgments  of  the  appel- 
lant jurisdiction  w^hich  the  see  of  Rome  was  aiming  to 
consolidate,  were  always  welcome  in  that  quarter.  In  fact, 
the  principles  involved  in  this  appeal  w^ere  to  be  the  ground 
of  controversies  between  the  papal  see  and  the  crowned  heads 
of  Europe  through  centuries  to  come.  Messengers  were 
sent,  it  is  said,  to  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Franks,  and  to 
Embroin,  mayor  of  the  palace,  to  arrest  Wilfrid  on  his  way, 
and  to  put  his  followers  to  the  sword.  Wilfrid's  biographer 
assures  us,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  bishop  left  England 
on  this  errand  amidst  the  tears  of  many  thousands  of  his 
monks. 

But  the  elements  favoured  the  escape  of  the  delinquent 
prelate.  The  vessel  in  which  he  embarked  was  driven  on 
the  coast  of  Friesland.  The  pagan  Frisians,  and  the  Chris- 
tian bishop  thus  cast  upon  their  shores,  spoke  the  same 
language.  Wilfrid,  with  the  versatile  power,  and  the  love 
of  action,  which  characterized  him,  gave  himself  to  the 
work  of  a  missionary  among  these  people.  The  influence  he 
acquired  over  them  by  his  preaching,  and  by  the  interest 
which  he  evinced  in  their  afl'airs,  disposed  him  to  extend  his 


divided  so  as  to  be  small.     Bede,  in  his  well-known  epistle  to  Egbert,  urges  the 
same  thing. 

*  Bede,  Eccks.  Hist.  iv.  c.  3,  4. 


EEVOLUnON  IN   RELIGION.  203 

staj  among  them  nearly  twelve  months.  The  fisheries  of  book  it. 
the  year  proved  unusually  successful.  The  grateful  people  — - 
attributed  this  to  the  coming  of  the  stranger,  and  to  the 
Good  Being  whose  minister  he  was.  Tlie  man  who  had 
contributed  to  give  his  E"orthumbrian  countrymen,  in  place 
of  their  buildings  of  wood,  covered  with  reeds  and  thatcb, 
edifices  of  stone  covered  with  lead,  and  protected  and  adorn- 
ed with  glass ;  who,  when  opening  the  church  he  had  built 
at  Ripon,  a  building  constructed  of  smoothed  stone,  with  its 
aisles  formed  by  lofty  columns,  might  be  seen  standing  on 
the  steps  of  the  altar,  and  heard  reading  over,  in  the  presence 
of  king  and  nobles,  and  of  a  wondering  crowd  of  people, 
descriptions  of  lands  assigned  to  that  church,  and  of  other 
lands  in  that  district  once  assigned  to  sacred  uses  when  the 
Britons  who  dwelt  there  were  Christians,  and  in  effect  claim- 
ing that  those  lands  should  be  restored — ^the  man,  in  short, 
who,  in  his  policy  and  bearing,  seemed  to  anticipate  all  that 
the  great  churchmen  in  after  ages  were  to  become  in  our 
history,  is  the  man  who  may  now  be  seen  inspecting  the 
nets  of  the  Frisian  fishermen,  seated  in  the  huts  of  their 
humble  families,  or  gathering  about  him  the  king,  and  the 
chiefs,  and  the  people  of  that  rude  land,  that  ne  might 
preach  to  them  the  Universal  Fatherhood  of  the  One  True 
God,  and  the  coming  of  his  Son  to  die  for  man's  salvation.* 
In  this  honourable  service  Wilfrid  was  the  precursor  of 
Wilbrord,  and  Boniface,  and  other  English  missionaries,  who 
did  so  much  to  bring  Germany  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Two  years  passed  before  Wilfrid  presented  himself  to  the 
pope,  and  obtained  the  decision  of  a  Boman  synod  in  his 
favour.  Armed  with  the  decree  of  pope  Agatho  and  his 
synod,  which  doomed  the  layman  to  perdition,  the  ecclesias- 
tic to  deprivation,  who  should  dare  to  resist  it,  Wilfrid 
returned  to  England.  But  the  time  w^hen  papal  thunder 
should  be  terrible  had  not  come.  Theodore  heeded  it  not. 
Egfrid  treated  it  with  derision.     Wilfrid  was  thrown  into 

*  Eddius,  c.  xvi.  xvii.  It  is  proper  to  state,  that  in  his  architectural 
achievements,  Wilfrid  had  been  anticipated  in  a  good  degree,  and  in  a  much 
less  ostentatious  manner,  by  Benedict  Biscop,  the  founder  of  Wearmouth 
Abbey. — Bede,  Vitce.  Ah. 


204  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

■^Cha?  7^*  Prison,  and  placed  in  solitary  confinement.  Released,  after 
a  while,  lie  would  have  sought  an  asylum  in  Mercia  or  in 
Wessex.  But  the  queen  of  Hercia  was  a  sister  of  Egfrid  ; 
the  queen  of  Wessex  was  a  sister  of  Ercemburga.  It  was 
in  these  circumstances  that  "Wilfrid  turned  his  footsteps  to- 
wards Sussex,  and  sought  the  home  among  pagans  which 
seemed  to  be  denied  him  among  Christians. 

We  might  have  supposed  that  the  country  of  the  South 
Saxons  would  have  been  one  of  the  last  to  prove  attractive 
to  the  exiled  bishop.  For  it  had  happened  that,  on  his  way 
from  France  after  the  extravagant  ceremony  of  his  ordina- 
tion, Wilfrid  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Sussex.  Tlie  peo- 
ple along  that  coast  were  wont  to  claim  all  that  fell  into 
their  hands  from  shipwreck  as  lawful  spoil,  seizing  the  prop- 
erty as  their  own,  and  selling  the  people  as  slaves.  The 
vessel  was  stranded,  but  the  crew  resolved  to  defend  them- 
selves to  the  last.  Wilfrid  and  his  attendant  ecclesiastics 
encouraged  the  seamen  in  their  purpose  by  exhortations, 
and  by  loud  prayer  for  their  success.  But  the  pagans  had 
their  spiritual  weapons  as  well  as  the  Christians.  Upon  a 
rising  ground  opposite  them  was  the  pagan  priest,  using 
his  enchantments  and  calling  upon  his  gods.  But  in  the 
fray,  a  stone  from  a  sling  entered  the  head  of  the  priest,  and 
he  fell  dead.  The  sailors  had  bravely  repulsed  the  wreckers 
in  three  onsets,  when  the  tide  rose,  the  wind  became  favour- 
able, the  vessel  floated,  and  was  again  to  sea. 

Wilfrid,  in  now  looking  towards  Sussex,  was  aware  that, 
though  the  people  were  pagans,  the  king  and  queen  had  re- 
ceived baptism  as  Christians.  There  was  also  a  feeble  colo- 
ny of  Scottish  mouks  at  Boshun,  near  Chichester.  But 
His  preach-  nothing  effectual  had  been  done  towards  converting  the 
Sussex.  people.  The  preaching  of  Wilfrid  was  a  new  thing  among 
them.  He  taught  them,  moreover,  many  useful  arts  along 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  In  a  time  of  great  dearth 
he  instructed  them  in  fishing,  so  as  to  give  them  a  new  and 
unexpected  supply  of  their  wants.  In  gratitude  for  these 
services,  Selsey — the  Isle  of  Seals — was  assigned  to  him  as 
a  residence ;  and  in  that  place  he  exercised  his  functions 


REVOLUTION   IN   RELIGION.  205 

as  a  bishop  over  a  considerable  body  of  clergy  for  five  b<><^k  il 
years.*  

Subsequently,  Wilfrid  prosecuted  his  labours  as  an 
evangelist  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  under  the  favour  of  Cead- 
walla,  who  had  become  possessed  of  the  throne  of  Wessex. 
But  death  removed  archbishop  Theodore.  Egfrid  of  Nor- 
thumbria  fell  in  battle.  Aldfrid,  his  son,  restored  Wilfrid  to 
his  see.  Still  the  troubles  of  Wilfrid  were  not  at  an  end. 
Aldfrid  had  been  educated  in  the  school  of  lona.  Wilfrid's 
reverence  for  the  papacy,  and  passion  for  prelatical  magnifi- 
cence, had  increased  rather  than  diminished.  Aldfrid  was 
disposed  to  check  these  tendencies ;  and  on  his  attempting 
to  elevate  Ripon  into  a  bishopric,  Wilfrid  resisted,  and  again 
fell  into  disgrace. 

In  a  national  council  assembled  at  Eastonfield,  the  refrac-  ESmeid. 
tory  prelate  was  called  upon  to  express  his  unqualified  sub- 
mission to  certain  constitutions  drawn  up  by  the  late  arch- 
bishop Theodore.  Wilfrid,  so  self-governed  and  genial  in 
his  manner  towards  inferiors,  betrayed  on  this  occasion  the 
haughty  and  passionate  temper  natural  to  him.  He  express- 
ed his  surprise  that  the  council  should  think  of  placing  the 
authority  of  archbishop  Theodore,  a  branded  schismatic, 
before  that  of  the  pope ;  censured  his  accusers  as  having 
incurred  the  guilt  of  resisting  the  judgment  of  the  Roman 
see  for  now  more  than  twenty  years  ;  and  recounting  what 
he  had  done  to  bring  the  churches  of  the  difi'erent  states 
into  a  nearer  relation  to  that  great  centre  of  ecclesiastical 
unity,  he  told  them  emphatically  that  his  case  should  again 
be  submitted  to  that  tribunal  for  decision.  'Nov  were  these 
empty  words.  Though  seventy  years  of  age,  Wilfrid  again 
presented  himself  in  Rome,  and  again  judgment  was  given 
in  his  favour.  But  the  words  of  king  Aldfrid  were, '  For  no 
writing,  coming  as  ye  say  from  the  apostolic  chair,  will  I 
consent  to  alter  one  word  of  a  sentence  that  had  been  agreed 
to  by  myself,  the  archbishop,  and  the  dignities  of  this  land.' 
On  the  death  of  Aldfrid,  however,  many  influences  were 
employed  to  bring  about  the  restoration  of  Wilfrid  to  his  see. 

*  Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  iv.  c.  13,  19.     Eddius. 


206  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

BOOK  II.  Tliis  was  at  length  accomplished.-    He  died  shortly  after,  at 

the  age  of  seventy-six.* 

of'the  Mf^''  The  life  of  Wilfrid  would  be  of.  small  interest  if  it  con- 
of  Wilfrid,  cerned  himself  alone.  But  it  is  highly  illustrative  of  his  age. 
It  shows  how  great  was  the  influence  of  the  Scottish  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Christian  states  of  the  Heptarchy  ;  how 
foreign  to  the  notions  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  that  day  was 
that  appellant  jurisdiction  in  the  Roman  see,  so  boldly  in- 
sisted on  in  later  times  ;  how  early  the  type  of  the  ruling 
churchman  of  the  Middle  Age — combining  the  ascetic  and 
the  worldly,  the  patronage  of  monks  with  the  defiance  of 
crowned  heads — began  to  make  its  appearance  among  us  ; 
and  how  soon  our  rude  Germanic  forefathers  gave  evidence 
of  being  capable  of  throwing  all  their  characteristic  energy 
into  a  new  creed,  of  substituting  civilized  tastes  for  those  of 
the  barbarian,  and  the  battles  of  the  ecclesiastical  leader  for 
those  of  the  old  sea-king.  The  intelligence,  refinement,  and 
convictions  of  the  Saxon  bishop,  as  compared  with  the 
priest  of  Saxon  paganism,  gave  him  a  position  which  was 
new  in  the  history  of  his  race  ;  and  if  we  see  how  these  ac- 
quisitions were  used  for  evil,  we  can  also  see  how  they  were 
used  for  good, 
odoatidst.  For  the  next  memorable  exhibition  of  the  sacerdotal 
monachism  Spirit  in  Auglo-Saxou  history,  we  descend  from  the  age  of 
saxoiThis-  Wilfrid  to  that  of  Odo  and  Dunstan — two  centuries  later. 
To  this  interval  belong  some  of  tho  most  destructive  rav- 
ages of  the  l^orthmen.  But  to  this  interval  also  belong  the 
names  of  Egbert,  and  Alfred,  and  Athelstan.  The  splen- 
dour of  the  reigns  of  Athelstan  and  Edgar  was  favourable 
to  the  aspirations  of  ecclesiastical  ambition. 

All  the  forms  of  Christianity  which  obtained  a  footing  in 
Britain  in  this  early  period  of  its  history,  included  a  strong 
element  of  monasticism.  What  w^e  know  concerning  the 
monks  of  Bangor  and  lona,  presents  evidence  enough  on 
this  point  as  regards  the  Britons  and  the  Scots ;  and  the 
forty  monks  in  the  procession  of  Augustine  as  he  entered 
into  Canterbury,  were  only  an  instalment  of  what  w^as  to 
follow.     The  rough  energy  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  was  not 

*  Eddius,  c.  42  et  seq.     Bede,  Eccles.  Hist.  v.  c.  19. 


REVOLUTION  IN  RELIGION.  207 

likely  to  bow  to  any  system  the  character  and  outward  signs  book  il 
of  which  were  not  strongly  marked.  "VYith  such  a  people,  — '—' 
there  was  much  in  the  separation  and  the  self-consecration 
which  seemed  to  be  characteristic  of  the  monastic  life,  to 
give  it  impressiveness  and  power.  Hence  among  those 
who  professed  themselves  Christians,  not  a  few  took  up  that 
profession  in  its  severest  forms.  In  this  island  of  the  West, 
as  in  the  crowded  cities  of  the  East,  the  quiet  and  seclusion 
of  the  convent  became  attractive  in  the  measure  in  which  it 
was  felt  that  to  be  in  the  world  was  to  be  in  the  midst  of 
unsettledness,  suffering,  and  crime.  The  great  multiplication 
of  monasteries  in  the  early  history  of  Anglo-Saxon  Christi- 
anity resulted  largely  from  such  influences.  Much  delusion 
no  doubt  lay  under  these  appearances.  "We  feel  obliged 
to  suppose  that  the  firmer  and  warlike  temper  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  was  unduly  diminished  by  this  means,  so  as  to  have 
rendered  them  unequal  to  the  crisis  when  compelled  to  stand 
face  to  face  with  the  Northmen.  Certainly,  the  impression 
of  the  Northmen  was,  that  the  new  faith  of  the  Saxons  had 
destroyed  their  old  courage,  though  the  occasions  were  not 
few  in  which  they  were  undeceived  in  that  matter.  And 
many  who  fled  to  the  monastery  did  not  find  monks  all  that 
they  seemed  to  be.  The  good  expected  from  such  compan- 
ionships was  not  always  realized.  Nevertheless,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  institute  was  great  and  enduring.  Even  the 
clerks — ^the  secular  clergy,  as  they  were  called  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  monks — lived  in  the  places  where  their  first 
rude  cathedrals  had  made  their  appearance,  much  as  the 
monks  lived,  having  all  things  in  common  under  their  bishop. 
The. progress  of  Christianity  soon  required  that  clergymen 
should  be  located  in  parishes ;  but  the  bishop  always  retained 
a  considerable  number  of  clergy  with  him  who  lived  together, 
conducted  the  cathedral  service,  and  went  forth  under  epis- 
copal direction  to  the  discharge  of  various  official  duties  in 
the  surrounding  district.  The  residents  in  connexion  with 
our  cathedrals  to  this  day  give  us  the  form  of  this  old  usage 
without  its  spirit.  * 

But  in  the  time  of  Odo  and  Dunstan,  the  clergy  in  Eng- 

*  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  books  ii.  viii. 


208 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  7. 

Marriage 
among'the 
Anglo- 
Saxon 
clergy. 


Odo  and 
Dunstan  as 
reformers. 


land,  in  common  with  their  brethren  over  a  great  part  of 
the  Continent,  were,  many  of  them,  we  may*  perhaps  say 
most  of  them,  mari'ied  men.  A^  that  time,  strange  as  it 
may  sonnd  to  modem  ears,  this  might  be  said  of  the  monks, 
as  well  as  of  the  parochial  and  cathedral  priesthood.  The 
monks  of  St.  Benedict,  introduced  by  "Wilfrid  and  Benedict 
Biscop,  took  the  vow  of  chastity,  as  it  was  called.^  But 
the  monks  of  Wales  and  of  lona  gave  no  such  pledge,  and 
often  availed  themselves  of  their  liberty  to  marry.  During 
the  ninth  century  the  Benedictines  were  all  but  annihilated 
by  the  swords  of  the  Danes.  So  that  when  Dunstan  broached 
his  project  of  reform  in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  the 
monks  of  Glastonbury  and  Abingdon  were  the  only  men 
of  their  profession  who  had  bound  themselves  to  a  life  of 
celibacy.f 

Dunstan  has  been  justly  described  as  the  Hildebrand  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  church.  He  resolved,  if  possible,  to  force' 
the  law  of  celibacy  on  all  ecclesiastical  persons.  By  this 
policy,  Hildebrand  would  have  severed  such  persons  from 
all  the  ties  of  family  and  country,  and  would  have  substituted 
in  the  j)lace  of  both,  a  passion  for  the  splendour  and  power 
of  the  church — that  is,  of  the  clergy.  The  aim  of  Dunstan, 
a  century  earlier,  if  not  to  the  same  extent  defined  and 
avowed,  was  to  the  same  effect.  He  would  have  merged 
the  patriot  and  the  man  in  the  priest.  Edgar,  succeeding  the 
unfortunate  Edwy,  deemed  it  wise  to  avail  himself  of  the 
power  of  Dunstan  and  his  party.  By  royal  waiTant,  many 
of  the  married  clergy  were  expelled.  Bitter  strife  was 
diffused  from  one  end  of  England  to  the  other.  But  the 
successes  of  the  reformers  were  partial  only,  even  in  their 
life-time,  and  little  signs  of  them  were  perceptible  twenty 
years  after  their  decease. "!(. 


*  Bede,  Vitce  Ab.  Bede,  in  his  epistle  to  Egbert,  gives  a  sad  picture  of 
some  of  the  monasteries  in  his  time.  But  his  zeal  on  the  side  of  the 
celibacy  of  ecclesiastical  persons  makes  his  authority  less  weighty  on  those 
points  than  on  some  others. 

f  Wharton's  Anglia  Sacra,  i.  218.  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  book  ii.  c. 
viii.     Lappenbcrg,  ii.  128  et  seq. 

X  Laws  and  Institutes  of  Bncfland.  Edgar's  Laws,  111-114.  Osborn. 
Eadmer.  Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  ii.  c.  7.  Vita  Duns.  Milman's  History  of 
Latin  Christianity,  iii.  113-116. 


EEVOLUTION   IN  EELIGION.  209 

Odo,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  distinguished  him-  book  ii. 
self  in  this  crusade  against  the  married  clergy,  was  a  Dane,  — '-' 
and  had  been  a  military  cliief.  He  had  become  a  student 
and  a  scholar,  but  brought  not  a  little  of  the  severe  temper 
which  men  expect  in  the  camp,  into  the  affairs  of  the  church. 
Dunstan  had  been  from  his  youth,  and  from  choice,  a  monk, 
and  a  monk  of  the  greatest  zeal  in  all  things  monastic.  But 
with  the  asceticism  of  the  anchorite  he  combined  the  inge- 
nuities of  the  man  of  science,  and  the  taste,  in  some  degree, 
of  the  man  of  letters.  The  genius,  however,  which  qualified 
him  to  excel  as  a  statesman,  and  in  other  secular  pursuits, 
was  accounted  of  value  only  as  it  might  be  made  to  sub- 
serve his  policy  as  a  churchman.  More  than  once  the  secu- 
lar clergy  prevented  his  elevation  from  his  position  as  abbot 
of  Glastonbury  to  a  bishopric.  But  he  at  length  became 
bishop  of  Worcester,  bishop  of  London,  and  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  ending  a  life  in  which,  according  to  his  biogra- 
phers, his  miracles  almost  ceased  to  be  such  from  their  fre- 
quency, only  that  his  tomb  might  become  still  more  famous 
for  such  prodigies  after  his  death.  His  name  has  a  con- 
spicuous place  among  the  saints  in  the  Roman  calendar. 

The  conduct  of  Odo  and  Dunstan  towards  Edwy  and  story  of 
Elgiva  is  described  in  some  form  in  all  our  histories.  Edwy,  EigTfa.*° 
who  was  but  sixteen  years  of  age  on  his  accession,  had  mar- 
ried Elgiva,  a  lady  who  must  have  been  of  noble,  if  not  of 
royal  descent,  inasmuch  as  the  marriage  was  said  to  have 
been  invalid  on  the  ground  of  consanguinity.  Edwy,  it 
seems,  on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  withdrew  earlier  than 
was  deemed  respectful  from  the  table  where  the  bishops  and 
thanes  were  at  their  festivity.  At  the  suggestion  of  Odo, 
the  bishop  of  Lichfield  and  the  abbot  of  Glastonbury  went 
in  search  of  the  king,  whom  they  found  in  an  apartment 
with  his  wife  and  the  females  of  his  family.  Edwy  was 
unwilling  to  return  to  the  drinkers  in  the  hall ;  upon  which 
Dunstan,  himself  then  but  just  thirty  years  of  age,  seized 
the  king  vehemently  by  the  hand,  replaced  the  crown, 
which  he  had  laid  aside,  upon  his  head,  and  applied  offen- 
sive names  to  the  females  present,  who  protested  against 
his  rudeness.  In  this  manner  he  forced  the  young  king 
Vol.  L— 14 


210 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


^cSS  "■  ^^^^  *^  ^^^  forsaken  seat.    It  is  possible  that  Edwy  had  been 

at  fault.     But  the  conduct  of  Dunstan  betrayed  so  much 

priestly  insolence,  that  nothing  could  be  more  natural  than 
the  deep  resentment  of  the  king  and  his  relatives.'^" 

Edwy  now  called  upon  Dunstan  to  produce  the  treasure 
which  the  late  king  had  committed  to  his  trust.  Dunstan 
evaded  this  demand  by  quitting  the  kingdom.  The  young 
king,  however,  was  no  match  for  the  difficulties  which 
such  a  quarrel  entailed  upon  him.  His  measures  against 
the  monastic  party  disposed  them  to  conspire  against  him 
in  favour  of  his  younger  brother  Edgar.  Mercia  and  ITorth- 
umbria  were  induced  to  withdraw  their  allegiance  from 
him.  Odo  was  connected  with  Wessex,  and  remained  nom- 
inally faithful  to  the  king.  But  he  insisted  that  Elgiva 
should  be  put  away.  Tlie  servants  of  the  archbishop  forced 
the  unhappy  queen  from  her  palace,  branded  her  countenance 
with  hot  irons  to  efface  her  beauty,  and  banished  her  to 
Ireland.  And  we  have  all  heard  the  rest— that  after  a 
short  time  her  beauty  was  restored ;  that  she  returned  to 
England  in  search  of  her  husband  ;  that  at  Gloucester  she 
fell  again  into  the  hands  of  the  military  servants  of  Odo, 
who  subjected  her  to  cruel  mutilation  by  severing  the 
sinews  of  her  legs  ;  and  that  a  few  days  later,  both  king  and 
queen  died,  from  broken-heartedness,  or  from  soine  foul 
play  which  has  never  come  to  light,  f 

Such  deeds  could  sacerdotalism  perpetrate,  and  perpe- 
trate with  impunity,  at  some  junctures  in  Anglo-Saxon  his- 
tory. Enough  has  been  stated  to  show  how  this  temper, 
especially  as  allied  with  its  great  coadjutor  monasticism, 
could  make  void  all  the  great  principles  of  natural  morality, 

*  Malmsbury,  ii.  T.  Hist.  Rames.  c.  7  ;  Wallingford,  543  ;  and  the  Cotton 
MSS.  relating  to  the  history  of  Abingdon ;  all  speak  of  Elgiva  as  the  wife  of 
Edwy.  The /Saxow  67trow.  also  says  that  Odo  separated  them  'because  they 
were  too  nearly  related' — ad  an.  958.  According  to  the  biographers  of  Dun- 
stan, Elgiva  was  not  the  wife  of  Edwy,  and  they  heap  all  kinds  of  abuse  on 
that  lady  and  her  mother.  But  with  these  men  a  wife  within  the  prohibited 
degrees  would  be  no  wife,  and  the  savage  fanaticism  with  which  they  write 
almost  puts  them  out  of  court.  In  the  language  of  churchmen  in  those  days 
all  marriages  not  according  to  the  canons  were  adulterous. 

f  Chron.  Sax.  an.  958.  Osborn,  de  Vita  Odonis,  ap.  Wharton,  lib.  i.  84. 
Flor.  Wigorn.  an.  959.  Hist.  Barnes,  c.  14.  Malms,  de  Pont.  lib.  i.  '  Rex 
Westsaxonium  Edwinus  in  pago  Gloucestrensi  interfectus  fuit.' — Turner,  from 
the  Cott.  MS.  Hist.  Anglo-Sax.  ubi  supra. 


EEVOLTJTION   IN  RELIGION.  211 

wherever  tlie  interests  of  cliurchmen  mierlit  be  served  by  book  n. 

^      ,  CuAP.  7. 

such  means.     ]^o thing  can  exceed  the  extravagance  with     

whicli  the  triumphant  party  applaud  the  conduct  of  Dun- 
stan  and  Odo,  or  the  inhumanity  with  which  they  write 
concerning  the  sufferings  inflicted  on  their  victims.  The 
insults,  the  slanders,  the  mutilations,  the  murders — all  are 
holy,  pre-eminently  holy.  Odo  even  acquires  the  name  of 
Odo  '  the  Good.' 

Edgar,  who  succeeds  his  brother,  in  place  of  resting  in 
the  venial  fault  of  being  over-fond  of  an  affectionate  wife, 
fills  the  land  with  tales  and  ballads  relating  to  his  amours. 
The  daughters  of  the  best  families  were  liable  to  be  de- 
manded as  instruments  of  his  pleasures,  even  under  the  roof 
of  their  parents.  The  convent  itself  was  no  security  against 
the  lawlessness  of  his  passions.  I*Tor  did  he  scruple  to  use 
the  dagger  to  avenge  himself  on  the  man  who  interposed 
between  him  and  such  gratifications.  But  his  one  virtue, 
in  becoming  the  tool  of  an  ambitious  priesthood,  was  allowed 
to  cover  his  multitude  of  sins.* 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  instances  showins:  the  extent  The  better 

I'll  T        .      .      T  T  1.1  -.  .         1  -,  influences  of 

to  which  that  pharisaical  tendency  which  puts  the  ritual  and  Christianity 

■*■  .  *;  -'•  over  Anglo- 

polity  of  church  organizations  before  the  '  weightier  matters  |a^"n 
of  the  law,'  had  found  a  place  in  the  Christian  life  of  the 
Saxons  and  Danes  in  Britain.     But  we  forbear.     It  will  be 
more  agreeable  to  look  to  the  features  of  the  new  life  intro- 
duced by  Christainity  which  are  of  a  better  kind. 

Tlie  only  written  laws  which  have  reached  us  from  the 
Anglo-Saxon  period  of  our  history,  are  laws  which  have 
come  from  kings  professing  Christianity,  and  acting  in  con- 
junction with  the  Christian  clergy. f  In  justification  of  an 
apparent  severity  in  some  of  these  enactments,  it  may  be 
mentioned,  that  the  weight  of  penalty  is  nowhere  greater, 
upon  the  whole,  than  in  the  laws  of  Alfred.:}:  In  many  in- 
stances, too,  we  can  trace  the  influence  of  the  clergy  in 
abating  rigour  in  this  respect,  and  in  urging  from  time  to 
time  that  laws  of  the  severer  kind,  which  it  was  not  deemed 
expedient  to  repeal  or  to  amend,  should  be  administered 

*  JIalms.  do  Reg.  ii.  8. 

f  Ancient  Laics  and  Institutions  of  England^  including  laws  from  Ethelbert 
to  Edward  the  Confessor.  \  Ibid.  27-45. 


212  SAXONS  AND   DANES. 

BOOK  II.  witli  a  humane  discretion.*     Care  for  tlie  poor  and  the 

weak  is  also  to  be  placed  among  the  unquestionable  virtues 

of  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy.  One  third  only  of  the  contribu- 
tions made  professedly  to  the  church  was  appropriated  to 
their  own  use.  The  next  third  was  reserved  for  the  repairs 
of  church  buildings,  and  for  the  expenses  of  public  worship. 
The  remaining  third,  or  at  least  a  fourth,  was  assigned  to 
the  poor,  f  ISTo  one  can  charge  these  men  with  being  respect- 
ers of  persons.  It  was  their  manner  generally  to  exact  the 
right  thing,  whether  in  behalf  of  thane  or  serf,  of  the  lord 
or  of  his  man.  The  frequent  preaching  enjoined  on  the 
parish  priest  must  have  been,  with  all  its  faults,  a  great 
benefit  to  the  people,  if  The  language  of  such  men  as  Bede, 
and  Egbert,  and  Elfric,  on  the  duties  of  the  Christian  pas- 
tor, oblige  us  to  suppose  that  there  were  not  a  few  in  those 
times  who  had  learnt  to  estimate  their  pastoral  work  very 
much  according  to  a  scriptural  standard.  When  we  find 
great  importance  attached  to  being  able  to  repeat  the  creed 
and  the  paternoster,  we  may  be  disposed  to  think  that  the 
Christian  intelligence  existing  among  such  a  people  must 
have  been  very  low.  But  the  fact  does  not  warrant  any 
strong  inference  of  that  nature.  Such  facts  occur  among 
ourselves  where  no  such  conclusion  is  admissible.  On  the 
sacredness  of  an  oath,  on  the  importance  of  truth-speaking 
in  all  things,  and  on  just  conduct  between  man  and  man, 
the  teaching  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  priest  was  grave,  reiterated, 
and  enforced  by  appeals  to  the  most  weighty  motives.  "No 
thoughtful  man  will  undervalue  such  influences  in  their  re- 
lation to  the  great  interests  of  society. 

The  venerable  Bede,  we  scarcely  need  say,  may  be  cited 
as  an  example  of  the  Christian  life  of  the  better  kind  among 
our  Saxon  ancestors.  But  even  his  Christianity  had  its  alloy. 
His  credulity,  for  such  a  man,  was  extraordinary.  In  his 
narratives  concerning  his  times,  the  miraculous  is  not  only 
so  common  as  to  meet  you  at  every  step,  but  it  is  often  so 
puerile  as  to  deserve  to  be  placed  among  some  of  the  most 
contemptible  inventions  of  that  nature  in  church  history. 

*  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutions  of  England^  135,  161,  176,  l'7'7-354. 
t  Ibid.  146,  445.  %  Ibid.  445. 


REVOLUTION  IN  RELIGION.  213 

He  was  also  considerably  infected  with  the  error  of  his  book  il 

times  in  regard  to  the  supposed  virtues  of  celibacy ;  and     

concerning  the  intention  of  married  life,  and  the  laws  to 
which  it  should  be  subject,  even  when  permitted.  Nothing, 
in  fact,  can  exceed  his  occasional  extravagance  on  these 
topics.  Those  Manichean  doctrines,  which  degrade  the 
domestic  and  social  relations  in  the  name  of  religion,  were 
avowed  and  inculcated  by  Bede  in  the  worst  manner  of  his 
day,  and  he  thus  contributed  his  share  towards  the  mis- 
chiefs which  resulted  from  them.  But  on  most  other  matters 
he  expressed  himself  with  great  sobriety  and  good  sense. 
His  judgment  and  his  heart  were  in  the  main  candid  and 
liberal.  He  differed  from  the  Scottish  missionaries,  but  he 
did  so  charitably.  He  was  himself  catholic  and  orthodox, 
but  he  appreciates  honestly  the  good  to  be  found  in  the 
example  or  writings  of  men  who  were  not  so  accounted. 
Above  all,  to  his  severe  labours  as  a  student,  he  added  the 
feeling  of  fervent  piety— of  a  piety  largely  allied  with  all 
those  virtues  which  fit  men  to  become  benefactors  in  regard 
to  the  things  of  this  life,  while  fixing  their  strongest  aspira- 
tions on  another.  Tlie  character  of  Bede  as  before  us  in  his 
memorable  epistle  to  his  friend  archbishop  Egbert,  exhibits 
sound  sense  combined  with  resolute  honesty,  and  with  a 
deep  devotedness  of  spirit.  We  can  believe  that  in  this 
type  of  piety  we  see  that  of  not  a  few  among  our  Saxon 
fathers. 

Benedict  Biscop,  the  founder  of  the  abbey  at  "Wearmouth,  Biscop. 
and  the  friend  and  patron  of  Bede,  appears  to  have  been 
distinguished  by  all  the  good  qualities  which  became  so 
conspicuous  in  his  'protege.  Aidan,  if  less  remarkable  as  a  Aidan. 
scholar,  was  more  abundant  than  either  of  these  good  men 
in  the  apostolic  work  of  oral  teaching,  making  his  voice  and 
presence  familiar  to  the  people  of  the  whole  space  of  country 
extending  from  Hull  to  Edinburgh,  and  from  Sunderland 
to  Whitehaven.  ISTor  did  the  spirit  of  Aidan  die  with  him. 
To  Egbert,  the  archbishop  of  York,  Bede  could  offer 
counsel  on  the  duties  of  a  Christian  prelate  of  the  holiest 
description,  assured  that  it  would  not  be  offered  in  vain.  And 
while  such  men  prosecuted  their  various  labours  at  home, 


214       ^  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

^cJ!a?  "'  '^^^J  c>f  their  countrymen — as  Wilbrord,  Boniface,  Willi- 

bald,  and  Willehad — ^became  distinguished  as  missionaries 

abroad.  Boniface  became  the  apostle  of  Germany.  Wil- 
brord taught  with  success  from  Friesland  to  the  Khine. 
According  to  Alcuin,  no  mean  authority,  "Wilbrord  was  a 
man  of  a  noble  aspect  and  deportment,  of  great  moderation 
and  prudence,  eminently  holy  and  forbearing,  of  a  most 
persuasive  eloquence,  and  distinguished  by  courage,  patience, 
and  perseverance.  Willibald  and  Willehad  were  men 
scarcely  less  remarkable.  But  it  is  in  such  men  as  Alfred 
and  Alcuin  that  we  see  the  fullest  influence  of  Christianity 
on  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind — piety  without  asceticism,  faith 
without  credulity,  the  noble  in  manhood  elevated  in  all 
things  by  the  pure  in  religion.  Concerning  these  great  men 
we  shall  have  something  more  to  say  elsewhere. 

The  names  we  have  mentioned  may  be  taken  as  those  of 
classes  representing  the  great  phases  of  the  Christian  life  in 
the  experience  of  our  Saxon  and  Danish  ancestors.  The 
sacerdotal,  the  superstitious,  and  the  truly  Christian,  all 
were  there — these  elements  being  more  distinct  and  prom- 
inent in  some,  and  more  variously  combined  in  others.  In 
some  instances,  the  Christianity  adopted  is  manifestly  so 
superstitiou^s,  fanatical,  and  demoralizing,  that  we  are  almost 
disposed  to  doubt  whether  it  would  not  have  been  better 
that  such  men  should  have  remained  in  their  old  heathenism. 
But  these  instances  were  not  common.  Speaking  generally, 
the  integrity,  the  benevolence,  and  the  purity  realized  by 
the  religion  of  the  Cross,  were  such  as  the  mythology  of  the 
Saxon  and  Northman  sea-kings  could  never  have  called  into 
existence ;  and  such  as  in  the  case  of  the  Alfreds  and  Alcuins 
of  those  days  left  everything  possible  from  that  source  at 
an  immeasurable  distance.  The  revolution — intellectual, 
moral,  and  spiritual — which  was  thus  accomplished,  was 
great,  and  pregnant  with  greater  things  to  come.  The 
Saxon  king  who  deserts  the  duties  of  his  throne  under  the 
plea  of  becoming  religious  in  a  convent ;  or  who  could  leave 
his  lands  exposed  to  the  ravaging  of  an  enemy,  that  he 
might  do  pilgrimage  to  the  shrines  of  the  apostles,  shows 
us  how  religion  may  degenerate  into  superstition,  supersed- 


EEVOLUTION  EST  RELIGION.  215 

ing  our  natural  obligations  in  place  of  enforcing  tliem.  But  i^ook  ii. 
in  tlie  case  of  a  Ceadwalla  or  a  Canute,  we  may  see  something  — — 
beyond  and  better  than  superstition,  even  in  these  pilgrim- 
ages to  Rome.  It  must  have  been  an  influence  of  no  feeble 
sort  which  taught  natures  so  sternly  moulded  to  bow  thus 
before  a  new  authority,  and  to  learn,  as  well  as  to  unlearn, 
on  so  large  a  scale.  Natural  curiosity  joined  with  religious 
feeling  in  prompting  such  men  to  such  pilgrimages ;  and 
we  may  be  sure  that  the  result  would  be,  not  only  to  deepen 
religious  impressions,  but  to  widen  sympathy  with  all  the 
objects  of  civilized  life.  Rome  embraced  something  more 
than  the  Papal  see,  as  did  the  journey  thither  and  back 
again. 


CHAPTEE  Vni. 

EEVOLUTIOIS'  IN  GOVEENMENT  Iiq^  AI^GLO-SAXON  BEITAIN. 

BOOK  II.  nnHE  heathen  life  of  the  Saxons  and  the  Danes,  described 

Chap.  8-         I      T 

iiekti^  of  ^^  ^^®  preceding  chapter,  has  shown,  in  some  measure,  the 
foiiowe?^  nature  of  the  government  which  obtained  among  them 
when  they  first  became  known  to  civilized  Europe.  We 
have  seen  what  the  Danes  were  in  the  ninth  century.  Such 
the  Saxons  had  been  in  the  seventh.  In  their  own  land  the 
eldest  son  inherited  the  property  of  the  family.  Tlie  for- 
tune of  the  younger  was  dependent  on  the  personal  quali- 
ties which  might  enable  him  to  attract  followers  as  a  pirate 
and  freebooter. 

But  even  in  such  rude  confederations  there  must  be 
laws.  The  fundamental  law  binding  the  leader  and  his 
adherents  was  substantially  that  known  in  later  time  as 
binding  the  chief  and  his  vassal.  As  the  relation  between 
these  parties  in  their  piratical  excursions  was  voluntary,  it 
rested  of  course  on  mutual  stipulations.  And  when  the 
Saxons  ceased  to  be  marauders,  and  settled  in  the  countries 
they  had  devastated,  this  relationship  was  perpetuated.  It 
continued  to  be  necessary  to  the  common  safety,  and  was 
still  accounted  sacred.  It  then  came  to  be  a  relation  hav- 
ing respect  to  the  holding  of  land.  The  Anglo-Saxon  vassal 
— for  such  he  was  in  fact  before  so  named — pledged  him- 
self to  love  all  whom  his  chief  loved,  to  loathe  all  whom  his 
chief  loathed,  and  to  be  obedient  in  word  and  deed,  pro- 
vided that  the  chief  on  his  part  should  fulfil  the  conditions 
claimed  by  his  vassal  on  entering  into  such  bonds.*    It  was 

*  These  are  the  words :  •  By  the  Lord,  before  whom  this  relic  is  holy,  I 
will  be  to  N.  faithful  and  true,  and  love  all  that  he  loves,  and  shun  all  that  he 


EEVOLUTION   IK   GOVERNMENT.  217 

the  fidelity  of  the  Saxons  and  N"orthmen  to  these  vows  book  il 
whicli  made  them  so  formidable  even  while  they  were  hea-     — '-' 
thens.     When  they  began  to  take  their  place  among  settled 
and  civilized  nations,  this  fidelity  remained  conspicuous  in 
their  history. 

Mention  may  be  made  in  this  place  of  an  instructive  story  of 
instance  on  this  point.  It  is  from  the  history  of  Cynewulf, 
king  of  Wessex.  Cynewulf  had  been  called  to  the  throne 
by  the  thanes  of  Wessex  in  the  place  of  Sigebyrcht.  Tlie 
dethroned  king,  and  a  younger  brother  named  Cyneheard, 
became  exiles.  Sigebyrcht  fell  by  the  hands  of  a  man 
whose  lord  he  was  said  to  have  injured.  Some  thirty  years 
after  the  death  of  Sigebyrcht,  Cyneheard  returns  to  Wessex 
with  eighty-four  sworn  adherents,  resolved  to  watch  the 
movements  of  Cynewulf,  and  to  attempt  to  possess  himself 
of  the  throne.  Unsuspicious  of  danger,  Cynewulf  one  even- 
ing left  Winchester,  with  a  small  number  of  followers,  to 
visit  a  lady,  an  object  of  his  affection,  at  Merton.  Cyne- 
heard and  his  friends  stole  from  their  hiding-places  in  the 
neighbouring  woods,  followed  in  the  track  of  the  royal 
party,  and,  as  night  came  on,  surrounded  the  house  into 
which  the  king  had  entered.  The  king's  attendants  were 
dispersed  in  the  neighbourhood.  On  hearing  a  noise  out- 
side, Cynewulf  rose  from  his  bed  and  hastened  to  the  door. 
There  his  eye  fell  on  Cyneheard,  upon  whom  he  instantly 
inflicted  a  wound.  But  the  assailants  were  quick  in  pro- 
tecting their  leader,  and  the  king  soon  lay  in  his  blood  upon 
the  floor.  The  noise  of  this  strife,  and  the  shrieks  of  the 
female,  brought  the  servants  of  the  king  to  the  spot.  But 
the  deed  was  done.  Cyneheard  proffered  the  king's  atten- 
dants safety  and  wealth  if  they  would  embrace  his  cause. 
His  overtures  Avere  rejected  with  indignation.  Every  man 
who  had  been  in  the  train  of  Cynewulf  perished,  in  the  des- 
perate efibrt  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  lord.  The  only  sur- 
vivor was  a  Briton,  who  owed  his  life  to  a  wound  which 
disabled  him,  and  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  mortal. 

shuns,  according  to  God's  law  and  according  to  the  world's  principles,  and 
never,  by  will  nor  by  force,  by  word  nor  by  work,  do  aught  of  what  is  loathful 
to  him — on  condition  that  he  keep  me  as  I  am  willing  to  deserve,  and  shall 
fulfil  what  our  agreement  was,  when  I  submitted  to  him  and  chose  his  will.' — 
Ancient  Laws  of  England,  76. 


218  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

^clJi?  ¥'         N'ews  of  wliat  had  happened  soon  fled  to  Winchester. 

Wiverth  a  thane,  and  Osric  an  ealdorman,  summoned  their 

retainers,  and  rode  with  all  speed  to  the  place.  Cyneheard 
met  them  at  the  gate  of  the  honse,  pleaded  the  wrongs  of 
his  family,  reminded  them  that  many  of  his  followers  under 
that  roof  were  their  own  kinsmen,  and  promised  them  rich 
possessions  if  they  would  aid  him  in  his  object.  Their  answer 
is  said  to  have  been  :  '  If  there  be  kinsmen  of  ours  among 
you,  let  them  depart,  but  our  murdered  lord  was  dearer  to 
us  than  they  ;  and  it  shall  never  be  ours  to  submit  to  those 
who  have  shed  his  blood.'  The  kinsmen  among  the  con- 
spirators replied  :  '  We  made  the  oifer  to  the  king's  attend- 
ants that  you  make  to  us,  and  they  chose  to  die  rather  than 
accept  it.  You  shall  not  find  that  we  are  less  faithful  or 
less  generous  than  they.'  Wiverth  and  Osric  began  the 
assault.  The  resistance  was  obstinate — desperate.  The 
fight  ceased  only  as  the  last  of  the  conspirators  fell.  Cyne- 
heard  was  not  dead,  but  was  left  to  die  of  his  wounds 
through  the  forbearance  of  Osric,  who  had  been  his  sponsor 
in  baptism.  *  Such  was  the  spirit  in  which  the  Saxons  and 
the  Danes  had  been  wedded  to  the  fortunes  of  their  chiefs. 

Where  the  leader  has  his  prescribed  or  understood  duties, 
in  common  with  those  whom  he  leads,  what  is  done  must 
be  done  by  joint  counsel,  and  in  gatherings  which  will  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  deliberative  assemblies.  The  following 
picture  of  the  proceedings  of  such  an  assembly  in  ancient 
Germany,  may  be  taken  as  giving  us  the  mode,  substantially, 
in  which  matters  were  transacted  by  the  Saxons  in  Holstein, 
and  the  INTorthmen  in  Scandinavia.  '  In  cases  where  all  have 
a  voice,  the  business  is  discussed  and  prepared  by  the  chiefs. 
The  general  assembly,  if  no  sudden  alarm  calls  the  people 
together,  has  its  fixed  and  stated  periods,  either  at  the  new 
or  full  moon.  Tliis  is  thought  to  be  the  season  most  propi- 
tious to  public  affairs.  Their  passion  for  liberty  is  attended 
with  this  ill  consequence — when  a  j^^iblic  meeting  is  an- 
nounced, they  never  assemble  at  the  stated  time.  Ilegular- 
ity  w^ould  look  like  obedience ;  to  mark  their  independent 

*  Chron  Sax.  ad  an.  156.     Fl.  Wigorn.  ad  an.  784.     Westmin.  ad  an.  786. 
Hunt.  196,  197.     Malms,  dc  Reg.  lib.  i.  c.  2. 


EEVOLUnON  IN  GOVEENMENT.  219 

spirit  they  do  not  convene  at  once,  but  two  or  three  days  ^^ok  ii. 

are  lost  in  delay.     When  they  think  themselves  sufficiently     

numerous,  the  business  begins.  Each  man  takes  his  seat 
completely  armed.  Silence  is  proclaimed  by  the  priests, 
who  still  retain  their  coercive  authority.  Tlie  king,  or  chief 
of  the  community,  opens  the  debate  ;  the  rest  are  heard  in 
vtheir  turn,  according  to  age,  nobility  of  descent,  renown  in 
war,  or  fame  for  eloquence.  No  man  dictates  to  the  assem- 
bly ;  he  may  persuade,  but  cannot  command.  "When  any- 
thing is  advanced  not  agreeable  to  the  people,  they  reject  it 
with  a  general  murmur.  If  the  proposition  pleases,  they 
brandish  their  javelins.  This  is  their  highest  and  most  hon- 
ourable mark  of  applause  :  they  assent  in  a  military  manner, 
and  praise  by  the  sound  of  their  arms.'  *  We  have  now 
to  see  how  the  principles  at  the  root  of  such  usages  were  to 
come  into  action  in  the  history  of  those  branches  of  the  Ger- 
man race  which  found  their  home  in  Britain. 

In  plundering  adventures  abroad,  Saxons  or  Danes  might  ^^"S'g"^^' 
agree  to  share  in  a  common  danger,  on  the  condition  of  par-  )^^]^^ 
ticipating  in  a  common  gain.  But  at  home,  some  other  basis  ^l^^^- 
of  social  connexion  was  necessary  to  social  existence.  This 
basis  was  found  in  the  possession  of  land.  Every  people 
has  its  country  or  land,  and  its  manner  of  disposing  of  that 
land  in  different  holdings  for  its  own  advantage.  Our  ear- 
liest knowledge  of  the  German  tribes,  presents  them  to  us  as 
settled  upon  arable  land,  surrounded  with  forest  pastures, 
and  as  claiming  a  kind  of  property  in  both,  according  to  laws 
written  or  understood,  and  laws  guarded  by  some  of  the 
severest  sanctions  of  religion.  In  fact,  the  principles  of 
government  introduced  by  the  Germanic  race  in  Britain,  as 
elsewhere,  rested  on  two  foundations — on  the  possession  of 
lands,  and  on  distinctions  of  rank,  as  depending  more  or 
less  on  such  possession.  To  be  a  free  man,  was  to  be  a  free- 
holder,— that  is,  a  holder  of  land.  In  so  far,  the  legislation 
of  the  Teutons,  and  that  of  the  ancient  Spartans  and  Romans, 
was  the  same.  Tlie  history  of  the  political  institutions  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  accordingly,  is  the  history  of  the  con- 

*  Tacitus,  Germania,  xi.  Lappenberg  says  it  does  not  appear  that  there 
was  any  king  among  the  Germanic  races  who  settled  in  Britain  (ii.  307).  Bede 
seems  to  say  the  same  thing. — Hist.  v.  10. 


220  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

BOOKii.  ditions   on   which    lands  were    possessed;    of   the    priv- 

— '-'    ileges  which  went  along  with  such  possessions  ;  and  of  the 

different  laws  intended  to  secure  to  the  different  classes, 

determined  by  their  different  relations  to  the  land,  the  safety 

and  rights  pertaining  to  them.     These  classes  consisted  of 

the  noble,  the  freeman,  and  the  serf. 

Local  The  names  of  places  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain,  names 

families  or    bomc  bj  the  samc  places  to  this  day,  can  be  shown  to  have 

tions  of       been  to  a  large  extent  patronymics — names  of  the  family, 

clan,  or  tribe  settling  in  them.     What  the  names  of  the 

Campbells  and  Macgregors  have  been  in  the  comparatively 

recent  history  of  Scotland,  these  local  names  were  among 

the   bands  of  men  who,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 


settlers. 


fought  for  a  settlement  in  Britain  and  found  it.  *  The  set- 
tlers in  such  localities,  we  may  suppose,  were  not,  in  all 
cases  of  the  same  blood.  In  an  emigration  so  protracted, 
and  the  result  of  so  many  influences,  this  was  not  to  have 
been  expected.  But  the  dominant  man,  or  the  dominant  sec- 
tion, among  the  new  comers,  gave  name  to  the  lands  which 
were  to  be  possessed;  and  thatname,  we  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve, was  generally  a  family  or  clan  name.  In  the  greater  expe- 
ditions of  the  Saxons  there  would  be  contributions  from  many 
tribes.  But  these  remained  as  separate  bands,  fought  as 
such,  and  settled  as  such,  in  the  new  country.  In  Anglo- 
Saxon  history  they  become,  to  some  extent,  what  the 
Komans,  the  Luceres,  and  the  Sabines  had  been  in  Koman 
history.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  these  names  were 
not  in  their  first  applications  the  names  of  cities.  Tliey 
were  names  given  to  the  lands,  appropriated.  The  life  of 
the  Teutonic  races  had  not  been  a  city  life.  They  were  a 
pastoral  and  agricultural  people.  It  was  the  work  of  time 
in  our  history  to  give  existence  to  towns  and  cities,  which 
should  seem  to  monopolize  the  names  that  liad  first  been 
given  to  the  lands  wholly  irrespective  of  them,  f 

*  Places,  the  names  of  which  have  so  originated,  are  often  marked  as  end- 
ing iu  inff  or  linff ;  also  by  the  terminations  ham,  hurst,  ton,  stede,  wic,  geat,  &c. 
— Kembie's  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  59.     Lappen,  ii.  319,  320. 

f  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  men  were  not  holders  of  land. 
Hence  side  by  side  with  these  relations  to  land  grew  up  relations  between 
persons.  Every  man,  whether  free  or  not  free,  was  bound  to  have  his  supe- 
rior— his  lord.     Strangers  whose  lords  were  not  known  were  men  for  whose 


REVOLUTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  221 

Every  district  so  formed  was  a  little  state.  It  enacted  ^^^  y- 
its  own  laws,  regulated  its  own  affairs,  and  armed  for  its  j^^~;~^_ 
own  defence.  It  possessed  full  local  means  for  dealing  with  vemment 
its  local  questions.  This  came  in  part  from  the  necessities 
of  the  case,  and  is  known  as  a  matter  of  history.  But 
union  on  a  larger  scale  was  necessary.  From  the  union 
of  these  districts  came  the  shires,  or  the  counties,  and  from 
the  union  of  counties  came  the  kingdom.  But  while  every 
district  consisted  of  a  body  of  persons  possessing  land,  the 
shire,  as  such,  had  no  land.  Tlic  organization  of  the  shire 
was  simply  political,  not  territorial.  It  existed  for  the 
better  protection  of  territorial  interests  as  belonging  to  the 
districts,  and  the  districts  might  assign  to  it  compensation 
for  such  services  ;  but  the  shire  authority  was  simply  that 
vested  in  certain  greater  landholders  by  the  less  for  their 
common  benefit.  General  action  could  only  be  taken  by 
means  of  such  central  authority.  But  the  province  of  the 
central  power  left  a  large  field  to  local  independence.* 

The  men  inhabiting  the  districts  mentioned  consisted  ^\\^^^ 

o  ^      and,  the 

mainly  of  two  classes — the  free  and  the  not  free.  The  dis-  ^^^  ^^■ee- 
tinction  of  the  freeman  was,  that  he  possessed  land  within 
the  limits  of  the  community.  By  that  fact  he  is  entitled 
to  privileges,  and  bound  to  special  duties.  It  gave  him  the 
right  to  bear  arms  ;  and,  if  so  disposed,  to  redress  his  own 
wrongs.  But  passing  by  the  local  court,  and  taking  the  law 
in  his  own  hands,  he  was  left  to  his  private  means  in  meet- 
ing such  private  hostilities  as  might  be  thus  provoked.  Kext 
to  the  pride  of  bearing  arms  was  that  of  wearing  long  flowing 
hair,  which  was  restricted  to  the  free  of  both  sexes.  The 
freeman  could  join  the  guilds  or  associations  formed  by  his 
fellows  for  religious  or  political  purposes  ;  could  change  his 
place  of  abode  at  pleasure  ;  and  was  entitled  to  take  part  in 

good  behaviour  no  man  was  known  to  be  responsible,  and  for  whose  welfare 
no  man  was  bound  to  care.  The  '  lordless  '  man,  accordingly,  in  Anglo-Saxon 
law,  was  little  better  than  an  outlaw,  and,  in  fact,  was  dealt  with  as  an  out- 
law. Even  men  who  travelled  from  place  to  place  as  '  chapmen,'  were  viewed 
for  this  reason  with  suspicion,  and  were  made  subject  to  special  restraints  by 
special  laws. — Ancient  Laics  and  Institutions  of  England^  11,  12,  14,  19,  37, 
50,  51,  65,  70,  85,  90,  94.     Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  i.  c.  2. 

*  The  man  refusing  to  attend  the  gemote  when  summoned  was  liable  to 
heavy  costs,  and  even  to  death,  should  he  be  obstinate. — Ancient  Laics,  B9. 
Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  i.  c.  2. 


222  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 

^ChS.  a*  *^^  passing,  or  in  tlie  abrogation  of  laws,  and  in  the  appoint- 
ment  of  officers  to  places  of  civil  or  military  trust.  His 
presence  was  expected  at  tlie  public  council,  and  it  belonged 
to  bim  to  take  part  in  judging  of  cases  between  man  and  man. 
But  with  these  privileges  came  the  obligation  to  bear  such 
burdens  as  the  voice  of  the  community  should  impose,  and 
to  be  prepared  to  engage  in  war,  whether  offensive  or  defen- 
sive, as  required  by  that  authority.  * 
The  not  The  uot  free,  who  dwelt  among  the  free,  had  come  into 

that  condition  from  various  causes.  Some  by  birth,  some 
by  crime,  and  some  by  marriage.  Some  by  losing  their 
possessions,  and  being  seized  in  person  by  their  creditors. 
But  conquest  had  reduced  the  greatest  number  to  this  level. 
It  did  not,  indeed,  follow  that  a  vanquished  people  should 
always  be  an  enslaved  people.  In  some  cases  that  result 
ensued — ensued  rigorously ;  but  in  general  a  less  severe 
course  was  taken.  Circumstances,  and  the  temper  or  policy 
of  the  victor,  sufficed  to  break  the  force  of  the  calamity. 

The  not  free  whose  condition  was  in  the  least  measure 
degrading,  consisted  of  men  who  ceased  to  possess  land,  to 
bear  arms,  or  to  take  any  part  in  public  affairs,  but  who 
were  protected  by  some  chief  or  lord  as  the  cultivators 
of  certain  lands,  on  condition  of  their  rendering  certain  ser- 
vices, or  paying  a  certain  tribute.  Tacitus  describes  this  as 
the  condition  of  the  large  mass  of  dependents  who  bore  the 
name  of  serfs  or  slaves  among  the  ancient  Germans,  f  The 
distance  was  great  between  such  a  condition  and  that  of  the 
serf  who  became  the  mere  chattel  of  a  master,  to  be  muti- 
lated, sold,  or  put  to  death  by  him  at  pleasure. 

The  condition  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  serf  of  the  lowest 

*  It  should  be  stated  that  the  name  ceorl,  denoting  the  freeman  in  Anglo- 
Saxon  law,  comprehended  persons,  a  majority  of  whom  stood  in  the  most 
varied  relations  to  the  persons  underwhom  they  had  placed  themselves  as  their 
lords. — Lapp.  ii.  319.  Two-fifths  of  the  population  at  the  Conquest  are  sup- 
posed to  be  of  this  class. 

f  Germania,  xxv.  The  majority  of  those  denominated  freemen  were  under 
the  protection  of  some  lord,  civil  or  ecclesiastical.  The  classes  known  by  the 
names  '  bordarii,' '  gcburs,' '  cotsetlas,' and  others,  were  chiefly  employed  on 
the  land,  and  rendered  various  contributions  and  services  as  a  rental.  Many 
of  the  Britons  were  freemen,  and  their  wergild  was  according  to  status  and 
property.  From  the  time  of  the  Danish  rule,  the  distinction  between  the 
Saxon  and  Welsh  in  England,  gradually  disappears.  It  is  found  latest  along 
the  borders  of  the  free  Welsh  provinces. 


EEVOLTJTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  223 

grade  was  truly  grievous.  He  could  neither  represent  him-  ^^^f  a* 
self  nor  others.  His  interests  were  all  in  the  keeping  of  t^j^;;^ 
another  hand.  He  had  no  standing  in  any  public  court. 
His  oath  was  of  no  value.  His  lord  claimed  possession  of 
him,  and  of  all  that  could  belong  to  him,  as  he  would  have 
claimed  possession  of  a  horse,  or  of  any  other  quadruped 
properly  his  own.  As  the  serf  had  no  property,  he  could 
pay  no  fine  ;  and,  should  he  prove  a  delinquent,  the  mulct 
must  be  exacted  in  torture  upon  his  skin  and  his  flesh. 
Generally,  the  serfs  passed  from  hand  to  hand  with  the 
ground  to  which  they  were  attached.  Their  children  of 
course  inherited  their  degradation.* 

But  while  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  sufferings 
of  persons  of  this  class  were  often  great,  it  is  maintained 
by  humane  and  well-informed  authorities  on  this  subject, 
that  the  homesteads,  the  clothing,  and  the  food  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  serf  would  admit  of  comparison  with  the  same 
means  of  comfort  in  the  lot  of  our  own  peasantry,  f.  Jt  is 
clear  also,  that  the  differences  of  capacity  and  desert,  even 
among  those  who  were  alike  serfs,  led  to  a  great  difference 
of  treatment.  Above  all,  manumission  was  possible.  The 
generous  might  set  the  bondsman  free,  or  might  purchase 
his  freedom.  Such  instances  were  not  wholly  unknown 
even  among  the  pagan  Germans.  :j:  They  happily  became 
very  frequent  among  the  Christian  Saxons  of  Britain.  Many 
edifying  examples  of  this  nature  were  supplied  by  the  Anglo- 

*  The  number  of  slaves  registered  in  the  Domesday  Book  at  the  Con- 
quest is  25,000.  One  of  the  laws  of  Ina  forbids  the  master  to  sell  his  slave  to 
be  carried  beyond  sea,  even  though  he  should  have  committed  a  crime.  {Laios^ 
xi.)  The  wergild  of  the  slave  went  h^lf  to  the  master,  and  half  to  the  kindred 
of  the  slave.  Slaves  in  the  above  record  are  found  to  be  most  numerous  in 
Gloucestershire,  where  they  are  as  one  in  four  to  every  freeman;  and  in 
Cornwall,  Devon,  and  Stafford,  where  they  are  as  one  in  five.  The  numbers 
diminish  as  we  remove  from  the  Welsh  border,  until  we  come  to  counties,  as 
Lincoln,  Huntingdon,  Rutland,  and  York,  in  which  not  a  slave  is  registered. 
But  in  these  counties  the  lower  class  of  the  not  free,  who  at  the  same  time 
were  not  slaves,  increases.  The  condition  of  this  class  often  bore  too  near  a 
resemblance  to  that  of  the  slave  class  elsewhere.  The  w^ord  loet,  which  occurs 
in  a  law  of  Ethelbert,  is  supposed  to  refer  to  a  class  of  unfree  Saxons  whom 
the  invaders  brought  with  them. — Leg.  xxvi.  It  was  one  of  Alfred's  laws  that, 
if  any  man  bought  a  Christian  slave,  the  slave  should  be  free  after  six  years' 
service  ;  and  the  punishment  for  stealing  a  freeman  to  sell  him  into  slavery 
was  death. — Ancient  Laios  and  Institutions  of  England,  21,  22. 

f  Kemblo's  Ajiglo-Saxons^  i.  c,  8. 

\  Tacitus,  Germania^  xxv. 


224:  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

BOOK  iL  Saxon  clergy  ;  and  where  they  could  not  prevail  to  extin- 

guish  servitude,  they  did  much  to  improve  the  laws,  and  to 

soften  the  customs  in  relation  to  it.* 

by  bhS!^  As  the  not  free  gave  place  in  all  things  to  the  free,  so 

the  ordinary  freeman  gave  place  to  the  noble.  The  noble 
was  a  freeman,  claimed  his  privilege,  and  acknowledged  his 
obligations  as  such.  But  his  estate  was  larger,  and  free 
from  various  burdens  to  wliich  the  lands  of  others  were  sub- 
ject. He  not  only  took  his  place  in  the  placitum  of  his 
district  or  county,  and  of  the  Witanagemote,  but  he  was 
of  the  class  to  whom  it  pertained  to  prepare  and  regulate 
the  public  business,  and  to  give  execution  to  the  public 
will.  The  people  might  elect,  but  to  the  higher  offices — 
the  judge,  the  military  chief,  the  king — tha  noble  only 
could  be  elected.  On  the  life  of  the  noble  a  much  higher 
price  was  set  than  on  the  life  of  the  mere  freeman.  In 
him,  the  community  with  which  he  was  more  nearly  con- 
nected found  its  natural  centre  and  sovereignty,  and  through 
him  it  could  speak  and  act  in  regard  to  other  communi- 
ties.f 

The  noble  But,  bcsidcs  the  men  who  were  noble  from  birth  and 

possessions,  and  who  stood  in  this  political  relation  to  their 
respective  communities  and  neighbourhoods,  there  was  a 
nobility  which  grew  up  by  degrees  of  a  different  description 
— a  nobility  by  service.  This  class  consisted  of  the  military 
retainers  about  the  person  of  the  king.  The  junior  sons  of 
noble  or  wealthy  families  were  often  pleased  with  the  cour- 

*  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutions,  40,  41,  48,  129,  162.  Kemble's  Anglo- 
Saxons,  i.  c.  vii.  The  Christian  clergy  came  into  the  place  and  power  of  the 
old  pagan  priesthood,  very  few  of  whom,  as  observed  elsewhere,  would  seem 
to  have  followed  their  countrymen  in  their  migration  to  this  country.  The 
wergild  of  an  archbishop  was  that  fixed  on  the  life  of  a  king's  son.  The  bishop 
stood  on  the  level  of  the  ealdorman,  the  next  in  rank  to  royalty.  He  took 
part  with  the  ealdorman  also  as  an  equal  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  county  court. 
The  ealdorman  had  his  gemote  for  the  slave,  as  the  king  had  his  gemote  for 
the  nation,  and  by  the  ealdorman  and  the  bishop  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical 
questions  which  came  up  in  their  respective  jurisdictions  were  considered  and 
decided. 

f  The  name  'ealdorman'  expressed  our  idea  of  nobility.  This  was  a  dig- 
nity, it  seems,  which  the  king  could  not  confer  without  the  consent  of  his 
Witan.  But  the  dignity,  even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Alfred,  was  not  always 
hereditary,  nor  always  even  for  Ufe.  It  came  to  be  a  pretty  general  rule  after- 
wards that  the  rank  of  the  father  should  pass  to  the  son. — Palgrave's  Common- 
wealth, ii.  291.  Ellis,  Introduction,  i.  168.  llcywood's  Dissertation  on  Ranks. 
Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  ii.  c.  4.     Lapp.  ii.  312-314. 


BEVOLUTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  225 

tier  and  military  life  they  were  thus  permitted  to  lead,  book  il 
Tlie  law  of  primogeniture  assigned  the  paternal  domain  to  — '—' 
the  eldest  son.  Professional  or  commercial  life  was  un- 
known. Military  service  was  the  only  employment  to  which 
such  men  could  look,  and  the  only  field  in  which  such  service 
was  open  to  them  was  in  being  near  the  king.  But  in  ceasing 
to  be  a  landholder,  the  young  noble  ceased  to  be  a  freeman — • 
that  is,  ceased  to  have  any  place  in  the  communities  of  free- 
men in  his  own  right.  Only  through  his  fealty  to  the  king  did 
he  retain  any  political  relation  to  the  kingdom.  But  this  rela- 
tion to  the  king  as  coming  thus  into  the  place  of  every  other, 
became  on  that  account  the  stronger.  These  nobles  by  ser- 
vice had  their  home  about  the  king's  hearth  ;  their  place  at 
the  king's  board.  In  all  his  perils  they  were  at  his  side. 
In  all  his  successes  they  were  in  their  measure  sharers  in 
the  spoil.  I^othing  could  exceed  the  chivalrous  devotion 
of  such  men  to  the  cause  of  their  lord.  No  dishonour  could 
be  greater  than  that  of  having  failed  him  in  his  hour  of 
need.  Poetry  describes  them  as  prepared  to  face,  not  only 
the  natural,  but  the  supernatural — the  fiendish  Grendal, 
and  the  deadly  Firedrake — in  defence  of  the  leader  to  whom 
they  were  sworn.  ^  When  an  assassin  raised  his  arm  against 
Edwin  of  JSTorthumbria,  the  thane  Lilla  threw  himself  between 
the  weapon  and  the  king ;  and  such  was  the  stroke,  that 
the  point  reached  the  body  of  the  monarch  through  that  of 
his  self-sacrificed  noble.f  We  have  seen  also  the  feeling 
evinced  in  this  respect  by  the  retainers  of  Cynewulf  and 
Cyneheard  in  the  fray  at  Merton. 

In  fact,  this  sense  of  honour  came  too  much  into  the 
place  of  a  passion  for  freedom,  x^obles  of  this  class  learnt 
to  content  themselves  with  being  excluded  from  the  roll  in 
the  communities  of  freemen,  so  they  could  realize  honour 
and  wealth  by  placing  themselves  in  this  special  relation  to 
the  king.  It  is  obvious,  that  to  the  king  such  a  force  was 
always  the  nucleus  of  an  army.  Times  might  come  in 
which  the  danger  from  this  force  to  general  liberty  would 
■  be  seen  or  suspected.     But  in  such  a  state  of  society  the 

*  Beowulf,  1582  et  seq.  5262  etseq. 
f  Bede,  IJccles.  Hist.  ii.  9. 

Vol.  I.— 15 


226 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


The  family 
in  Anglo- 
Saxon  ' 
lation. 


^cJS?.  ¥'  f^^^i^g  <^f  safety  imparted  by  this  means  would  more  than 

outweigh  such  fear  in  the  mind  of  the  peaceful.     It  is 

beyond  doubt,  however,  that  the  rising  power  of  this  class 
of  nobles  tended  more  and  more  to  lower  the  influence  of  the 
nobility  who  derived  their  authority  from  birth  and  terri- 
tory, and  to  lessen  the  independence  of  the  communities  of 
freemen.  Tlie  central  became  in  many  things  too  strong 
for  the  local.  The  civil  was  often  made  to  give  place  to  the 
military.  So  that  even  protection  seemed  to  be  purchased 
at  too  high  a  price.  Of  course  the  territorial  nobles  were  at 
liberty  to  keep  up  a  comitatus,  or  '  following,'  as  it  was  called, 
according  to  their  means,  after  the  manner  of  the  king ; 
and  among  the  more  wealthy  such  was  more  or  less  the  cus- 
tom. Thus  lands  were  let  on  military  tenure ;  and  even 
ecclesiastics  had  their  military  retainers,  as  we  see  in  the 
case  of  archbishop  Odo.  ^ 

In  the  Eoman  civilization,  the  feeling  proper  to  family 
legis-  relationships,  had  been  from  the  first  almost  superseded  by 
maxims  of  state.  Hence  when  the  state  became  utterly  cor- 
rupt, nothing  remained  but  that  society  should  fall  to  pieces. 
But  with  the  Germanic  race,  the  bonds  of  family  and 
kindred  were  sacred,  and  were  the  basis  of  all  other  rela- 
tions. The  reverence  for  woman,  the  sanctity  of  the  mar- 
riage vow,  the  rigour  with  which  men  of  the  same  blood 
were  bound  to  guard  the  interests  of  each  other,  and  were 
made  in  their  measure  responsible  for  each  other,  were  all 
parts  of  a  system  in  which  the  family  was  regarded  as  the 

*  From  these  comitas — military  retainers — came  the  class  of  men  known 
in  Anglo-Saxon  history,  first  as  '  gesiths,'  afterwards  as  thanes.  When  the 
retainer  became  a  thane,  it  was  required  that  he  should  be  possessed  of  land. 
The  wergild  of  the  thane  was  equal  to  that  of  six  mere  freemen,  and  his  privi- 
leges in  other  respects  were  in  the  same  proportion.  The  ealdorman  must 
possess  forty  hides  of  land,  the  thane  five.  In  time,  the  simple  possession  of 
that  amount  of  land  made  any  man  a  thane.  In  Wessex,  a  Welshman,  so  far 
opulent,  acquired  that  status  ;  and  a  merchant  who  made  three  voyages  be- 
yond sea  in  his  own  vessel  might  claim  the  same  rank. — Iley wood's  Dissert,  on 
Ranks.  Ellis,  Introd.  i.  145-153.  Cod.  Diplomat,  i.  249.  Kemble's  Anglo- 
Saxons^  i.  c.  1.  The  thane  was  under  military  service,  and  bound  to  appear 
on  horseback.  It  is  certain,  also,  that  his  rank  entitled  him  to  be  present,  if 
so  disposed,  at  the  Witanagemote.  The  term  '  radchenistres '  occurs  in  dis- 
tricts bordering  on  Wales,  as  the  title  of  an  inferior  class  of  thanes  who  were 
probably  Welsh.  The  term  '  drenghs '  also,  is  mentioned  by  Lappenberg  as 
of  Danish  origin  and  as  descriptive  of  a  similar  class  in  the  north  of  England. 
—Eng.  ii.  318. 


REVOLUTION  IN  GOVERNMENT.  227 

first  form  of  society,  and  in  wliich  everything  beyond  was  book  il 

viewed  as  an  expansion  of  what  had  been  found  there.    The     

earlier  Anglo-Saxon  laws  determine  many  things  concern- 
ing the  manner  in  which  kindred  should  act  as  the  protec- 
tors of  kindred,  and  in  which  the  one  should  be  accounted 
responsible  for  the  other.  Subsequent  laws,  designed  to 
limit  such  responsibility,  and  to  remove  cases  from  settle- 
ment by  private  violence  to  the  local  courts,  show  clearly 
what  the  earlier  usage  had  been.  * 

The  Saxon  institutions  familiar  to  us  under  the  name  of  The  Tithing 

ana  Hun- 

Tithings  and  Hundreds  were  the  natural  result  of  this  great  ^^^ 
feature  in  the  complexion  of  Teutonic  life.  For  the  tithings 
and  hundreds  were  not  at  first  apportionments  of  territory 
— ^had  that  been  the  case  they  would  have  been  equal.  A 
tithing  was  the  association  of  ten  families,  a  hundred  was  the 
association  of  a  hundred  families,  f  The  principle  of  the 
tithing  was,  that  it  bound  each  man  of  the  ten  to  be  in 
his  measure  responsible  for  the  good  conduct  of  the  re- 
maining nine.  In  this  view  the  tithing  became  another 
form  of  the  family.  The  rights  and  duties  of  its  members 
were  in  common.  Should  one  of  their  number  become  an 
ofi:ender,  it  devolved  on  the  nine  '  to  hold  him  to  right.' 
Should  he  flee,  at  least  thirty  days  were  allowed  the  tithing 
to  find  him.  If  he  could  not  be  found,  then  the  head-man 
of  the  tithing  must  call  in  the  head-men,  and  '  some  of  the 

*  Edw.  Conf.  XX.  et  seq.     Thorpe. 

f  In  the  later  times  of  the  Saxon  dynasty,  the  hundred  aj^ears  to  have  con- 
sisted of  a  hundred  hides  of  land,  but  this  was  a  change  which  resulted  naturally 
from  the  increase  of  population.  The  smaller  counties  have,  many  of  them,  the 
greatest  number  of  hundreds.  But  these  smaller  counties  were  the  earliest  and 
the  most  thickly  peopled  by  the  conquerors.  In  Kent,  the  new  comers  were 
many.  In  Lancashire,  where  the  hundreds  are  the  fewest,  being  six  only  in 
number,  the  natives  still  upon  the  land  were  numerous,  and  the  strangers  com- 
paratively few. — Ellis,  Introd.  i.  184  et  seq. 

Care  must  be  taken  not  to  confound  the  tithings  with  the  '  guilds.'  The  tith- 
ings were  political  associations,  originating  in  the  laws,  and  sustained  by  the 
sanctions  of  the  state.  But  the  guilds  were  rather  voluntary  associations,  the 
objects  of  which  were  various.  They  go  back  in  German  history  to  the  time 
when  they  were  the  sacrificial  guilds  of  heathenism.  Market  days  and  court  days 
were  seasons  of  religious  festival ;  and  the  guilds  which  met  at  such  times  and 
places  were  partly  religious,  partly  convivial,  and  partly  of  the  nature  of  benefit 
or  insurance  clubs.  Provision  was  thus  made  against  losses  of  property,  expenses 
of  funerals,  and  such  matters.  Such  associations  were  the  origin  of  important 
municipal  institutions,  especially  along  the  coasts  of  the  Low  Countries.  In 
England,  the  guilds  were  not  known  in  their  pagan  associations. — Turner,  bk. 
vii.  c.  10.     Lapp.  ii.  349-351. 


228  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 

^cJiA?  ?■  ^®st,'  from  the  adjoining  tithings,  to  the  number  of  eleven, 

before  whom,  as  jurors,  the  question  to  be  decided  would  be, 

whether  the  tithing  had  done  its  best  to  bring  the  culprit  to 
justice,  and  whether  it  had  been  itself  in  any  way  implicated 
in  the  offence.  Should  the  tithing  be  acquitted,  the  head- 
man was  required  to  produce  the  mulct,  or  fine  proper  to 
the  offence,  out  of  the  property  of  the  wrong-doer,  or  of  his 
family,  '  so  long  as  that  shall  last ; '  and  should  that  not  be 
sufficient,  the  head-man  and  his  tithing  must  furnish  the 
remainder.  In  all  cases  the  tithing  is  to  see  that  recom- 
pence  is  made,  or  to  make  it.  *  So  that  the  tithings  of  the 
kingdom  were,  in  fact,  its  police ;  and,  from  the  motives 
naturally  supplied  to  vigilance,  they  furnished  a  police  the 
most  effective  possible  in  such  a  state  of  society. 

Many  differences  requiring  adjustment  were  settled  in 
the  tithing.  Such  as  were  of  a  nature  not  to  be  so  disposed 
of,  passed  to  the  court  of  the  hundred,  which  met  usually 
once  a  month.  If  not  settled  there,  it  went  to  the  shire- 
court,  which  met  three  times  a  year.f  Of  course  the  men 
reckoned,  both  in  the  tithings  and  in  the  hundreds,  were 
restricted  to  freemen.  Men  of  various  degrees  not  so  reck- 
oned, were  connected  in  different  ways  with  the  court  of 
some  lord,  who  was  at  once  their  protector,  and  responsible 
for  their  conduct.  J 

Both  the  tithings  and  the  hundred  had  something  to  do 
with  the  collecting  and  disbursement  of  rates,  on  many  local 
matters,  beside  affairs  of  police ;  and  their  meetings 
which  took  place  for  these  various  purposes,  were  not 
always  allowed  to  pass  as  meetings  of  mere  business.  One 
ancient  document  instructs  the  eleven  men  representing  the 
tithings  of  a  hundred  in  London  to  hold  meetings  as  nearly 

*  Laws  of  Ethelred,  i.  1.  Laws  of  Edgar ^  ii.  6.  Canute,  §  xx.  Edw. 
Conf.  XV.  XX.  Jud.  Civit.  Land.  viii.  7.  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons^  i.  c.  9. 
'  The  freeman's  original  position  in  the  state  was  that  of  one  of  a  family  whose 
members  were  bound"  to  mutual  aid  against  violence.' — Lapp.  ii.  336.  But  the 
Anglo-Saxon  tithing  extended  their  principle  beyond  cases  of  unlawful  violence, 
to  any  matter  which  '  compromised  the  public  weal,  or  trenched  upon  the  rights 
or  well-being  of  others.' — Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons^  i.  251. 

f  In  the  court  of  the  hundred  the  ealdorman  was  expected  to  preside,  as- 
sisted by  the  bishop,  and  the  principal  thanes  of  the  neighbourhood. — Laws  of 
Edgar y  ii.  5.     Canute,  xviii. 

\  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons^  i.  c.  9. 


REVOLUTION  IN   GOVERNMENT.  229 

as  might  be  once  a  month,  and  directs  that  they  should  at  book  ii. 

Chap.  8. 

such  times  '  have  their  refection  together,  and  feed  them-     — - ' 
selves  as  they  think  fit,  and  deal  the  remains  of  the  meat  for 
the  love  of  God. '  *     Such  seasons  of  good  fellowship  did 
much  no  doubt  to  sweeten  the  labors  of  trusty  burghers  in 
those  d^ays. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  right  which  Teutonic  law  and 
usage  supposed  to  belong  to  the  persons  of  a  family  which 
has  suffered  wrong,  to  exact  a  recompence  from  the  persons 
of  the  family  from  which  the  wrong  has  proceeded.  Tacitus 
says  of  the  Germans  :  '  They  are  bound  to  take  up  both  the 
enmities  and  the  friendships  of  a  father  or  relative.'  He 
adds  :  '  Their  enmities,  however,  are  not  implacable  ;  for 
even  homicide  is  atoned  for  by  a  settled  number  of  flocks  or 
herds.  A  portion  of  the  fine  goes  to  the  king  or  state,  a 
part  to  him  whose  damages  are  to  be  assessed,  or  to  his 
relatives.'  f 

In  Anglo-Saxon  law  the  fine  so  imposed  bears  the  name  ^he  wer- 
of  '  wergyld.'  The  wergild  was  graduated  according  to 
the  wrong  done,  and  according  to  the  rank  of  the  person 
against  whom  it  had  been  perpetrated.  It  applied  to 
wrongs  of  all  kinds,  and  it  determined  the  value  attached  to 
every  man's  oath,  according  to  his  condition,  in  a  court 
of  justice.  The  settlement  of  the  wergild  by  law  was  a 
material  step  towards  putting  an  end  to  private  feuds,  and 
to  the  mischiefs  inseparable  from  them.  One  of  Alfred's 
laws  denounces  a  heavy  penalty  against  the  man  who 
should  presume  to  seek  redress  by  his  own  hands,  in  place 
of  seeking  it  through  the  authorities  bound  to  secure  it  for 
him.  But  in  Anglo-Saxon  history,  custom  in  this  respect 
was  often  found  to  be  stronger  than  the  law.  X 

In  the  tithino-  we  have  seen  the  first  step  in  political  The  Witan- 

.        .  agemote. 

organization  among  the  Saxons  in  England.  ISText  came  the 
organization'  of  the  hundreds.  N'ext  that  of  the  shires. 
But  beyond  the  meeting  of  the  shire,  was  the  meeting  sup- 
posed to  represent  all  the  shires,  and  convened  specially 
by  the  king.    This  assembly  bore  the  name  of  the  Witanage- 

*  Judicia  Civitatis  Lond.     Athelstan,  v.  8,  §  1.     Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons^ 
i.  242. 

f   Germania,  xii.  xxii.  :j:  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  i.  c.  10. 


230 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


Its  consti 
tution. 


^(?H^?.  "*  i^ote.  It  was  the  great  council,  or  parliament,  of  tlie  state. 
Two  questions  arise  concerning  it :  How  was  it  constituted  ? 
What  was  its  business  ? 

It  is  clear  that  the  constitution  of  the  Witanagemote  was 
not  upon  principles  of  representation  defined  and  determined 
in  the  manner  with  which  we  are  ourselves  familiar.  The 
tithings,  the  hundreds,  the  shires,  might  all  elect  their  own 
ofiicers  to  preside  over  their  own  local  affairs  ;  but  we  have 
no  trace  of  evidence  to  show  that  it  was  the  work  of  the 
Saxon  freemen,  or  of  any  part  of  them,  to  choose  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Witanagemote.  Athelstan,  on  the  contrary, 
describes  the  assemblies  of  that  nature  convened  at  our 
different  places,  as  consisting  of  persons  '  whom  the  king 
himself  had  named.*  This  was  no  doubt  the  case  as 
regarded  all  the  principal  persons  convened,  and  such  we 
have  reason  to  suppose  was  the  usage.  Parties  not  so  invited 
were  probably  allowed,  in  some  instances,  to  be  present,  to 
furnish  information  on  particular  questions,  and  even  to 
take  part  in  the  proceedings  ;  and,  generally,  there  would 
seem  to  have  been  gatherings  of  freemen  who  were  the 
witnesses  of  the  proceedings,  and  who,  if  pleased  with  them, 
were  expected  to  testify  their  approval. 

Still,  the  men  constituting  the  "Witanagemote  were  to 
some  extent  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  in  so  far, 
the  kingdom  may  be  said  to  have  been  represented  by  them. 
The  meeting,  moreover,  included  men  of  all  ranks — the 
noble  of  every  grade,  and  men  who  cannot  be  supposed  to 
have  risen  above  the  rank  of  ordinary  freemen.f     On  the 

*  Codex  Dipt.  i.  240. 

•)•  Here  is  the  preamble  to  the  laws  enacted  under  Wihtroed,  king  of  Kent,  in 
696.  '  Wihtroed  assembled  a  deliberative  convention  of  the  great  men :  there 
was  Birtwald,  archbishop  of  Britain,  and  the  forenamed  king,  also  the  bishop  of 
Rochester,  the  same  was  called  Gybmund,  was  present ;  and  everj/  decree  of  the 
church  of  that  province  spoke  in  unison  with  the  obedient  people.  Then  the 
great  7nen  decreed,  with  the  suffrages  of  all^  these  dooms,  and  added  them  to 
the  lawful  customs  of  the  Kentish  men,  as  it  hereafter  saith  and  declareth.' — 
Ancient  Laws  and  Institutions  of  England,  16,  17.  The  following  passage  pre- 
cedes the  laws  of  Ina :  '  Ina,  by  God's  grace,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  with  the 
counsel  and  the  teaching  of  Cenred,  my  father,  and  of  Hedde,  my  bishop,  and  of 
Eorcenwold  my  bishop,  with  all  my  *  ealdormen^  and  the  most  distinguished 
'■Witan^  of  my  people,  and  also  with  a  large  assembly  of  God's  servants,  have 
been  considering  of  the  health  of  our  souls,  and  of  the  stability  of  our  realm,  so 
that  just  law  and  just  kingly  doom  might  be  settled  and  established  throughout 
our  folk  ;  so  that  none  of  the  ealdormen,  nor  of  our  subjects,  should  hereafter 
pervert  these  our  dooms.' — Ibid.  45. 


REVOLUTION  IN   GOVEENMENT.  231 

whole,  the  "Witanagemote  would  seem  to  have  been  as  good  book  ii. 
an  assembly  for  its  pui-pose  as  could  well  have  been  brought  — - 
together  in  such  circumstances.  In  those  days,  the  com- 
moners were  few  who  would  have  coveted  a  summons  to 
traverse  the  half  of  England  to  be  present  at  such  a  consul- 
tation. The  rivers  he  would  have  to  cross,  the  forests  he 
would  need  to  thread,  the  marshes  to  be  compassed,  the 
miserable  roads,  the  worse  accommodation — all  would  com- 
bine to  render  it  necessary  that  the  good  man  should  see 
such  advantages  attendant  on  his  presence  in  the  great 
council  as  no  such  man  ever  did  see,  if  his  patriotism  was 
to  prove  sufficiently  elastic  to  carry  him  to  the  end  of  his 
journey.  If  historians  and  speculators  would  only  imagine 
themselves  out  of  the  present  and  in  the  past  a  little  more 
frequently  and  vividly,  it  would  suffice  to  save  them  from 
much  error.  Mainly  from  the  cause  adverted  to — the  great 
difficulty  of  locomotion — the  maximum  of  the  leading  men 
present  in  the  "Witanagemote  was  rarely  more  than  a  hun- 
dred, including  bishops,  with  other  ecclesiastical  dignitaries, 
the  different  classes  of  nobles,  and  persons  holding  subor- 
dinate civil  or  military  offices.  * 

Concerning  the  business  of  this  assembly,  it  is  clear  that  ^*^  ^"smess. 
its  voice  was  to  be  taken  in  regard  to  all  acts  that  should  be 
authorized  by  the  king  ;  that  it  possessed  the  power  to  de- 
termine who  should  succeed  to  the  throne  on  the  demise  of 
a  king ;  that  it  could  depose  a  sovereign  whose  rule  was 
not  for  the  benefit  of  his  subjects ;  that  it  took  part  with 
the  king  in  negotiations  with  an  enemy,  and  in  settling 
terms  of  peace  ;  that  conjointly  with  the  crown  it  had  power 
to  appoint  prelates  to  vacant  sees,  to  change  the  tenure  of 
lands,  to  levy  taxes  for  the  public  service,  and  to  raise  forces 
by  sea  or  by  land  ;  that  it  acted  as  a  supreme  court  of  jus- 
tice, in  cases  civil  and  criminal ;  and  that  it  could  adjudge 

*  The  names  of  the  Witan  attached  to  documents  are  not  often  more  than 
thirty ;  the  highest  known  number  is  one  hundred  and  six.  Dr.  Lingard  says 
{Hist.  i.  186,)  'they  never  amounted  to  sixty,'  but  this  is  a  mistake. — See  Kem- 
ble,  bk.  ii.  c.  6.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  because  the  names  in  these  in- 
stances were  so  few  that  no  more  persons  were  present.  Such  signatures  are 
rarely  given  until  the  meeting  itself  has  been  dissolved,  and  tljen  such  as  remain 
sign  on  the  part  of  the  whole.  Among  the  names  which  appear  we  sometimes 
find  those  of  the  queen  and  of  abbesses. 


232 


SAXONS   AND  DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  8. 

Relation  of 
the  Witan- 
ngeraote 
to  the 
shires  and 
the  people. 


Different 
holdings  of 
land. 


the  lands  of  offenders  and  intestates  as  forfeited  to  the 
king.  * 

It  is  material  to  observe,  that  it  appears  to  have  been  a 
usage,  that  the  results  of  the  meeting  of  the  Witan  should 
be  taken  by  the  officers  of  the  town  present  into  the  different 
shires,  and  that  the  pledge  of  the  shire  court,  including  its 
nobles  and  its  ordinary  freemen,  should  be  obtained  in  sup- 
port of  what  had  been  done.  In  one  parliament  under 
Athelstan,  sheriffs  from  all  the  counties  of  England  are  said 
to  have  been  present,  and  in  the  usage  mentioned  we  pro- 
bably have  the  reason  of  their  so  being,  f  This  was  one 
method  by  which  the  difficulty  was  met  of  bringing  mem- 
bers together  from  great  distances  for  civil  purposes  in  those 
times.  '  The  whole  principle  of  Teutonic  legislation,'  says 
Mr.  Kemble,  '  is,  and  always  was,  that  the  law  is  made  by 
the  constiution  of  the  king,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  peo- 
ple.' ^  And  in  the  custom  of  obtaining  a  pledge  from  the 
freemen  of  the  provinces  in  support  of  what  the  king  and 
his  great  council  had  done,  this  principle  was  recognised  in 
the  manner  found  to  be  most  available.  Of  course,  what  the 
Witanagemote  had  done  was  done.  The  shiremote  had  no 
power  to  annul  or  amend.  But  it  had  its  occasions  for  con- 
ference, and  for  the  expression  of  opinion  ;  and  the  fact  that 
the  conclusions  of  the  Witanagemote  would  be  thus  sub- 
mitted to  the  shires  in  their  respective  courts,  would  not  be 
without  its  effect  on  the  proceedings  of  that  body.  § 

When  the  Saxons  possessed  themselves  of  this  country, 
they  seized  its  territory  as  their  own.  The  largest  share 
fell  to  the  king.  The  remainder  was  distributed  among 
the  chiefs  who  had  followed  his  standard.  Tliese  chiefs 
made  further  distributions  into  the  hands  of  two  classes  of 
freemen — those  who  occupied  the  land  as  bocland,  or 
bookland,  which  made  it  a  kind  of  chartered  freehold  ;  and 
those  who  occupied  it  as  folcland  (the  people's  land),  which 
was  much  the  same  with  a  lease  and  renthold.  Those  who 
occupied  folcland,  as  being  tenants  rather  than  owners,  were 

*  The  evidence  on  these  points  lies  over  a  wide  surface — the  substance  of  it 
may  be  seen  in  Mr.  Kemble's  Anf/lo-Saxons,  ii.  204-232,  241-261. 
*  f  Xc<7.  Athels.  v.  10. 

1(.  Anglo-Saxons,  ii.  236.  §  Ibid.  ii.  c.  6. 


EEvoLtmoN  IN  govern:ment.  233 

subject  to  a  variety  of  burdens  from  which  the  occupiers  of  book  ii, 
bocland  were  exempt.  But  the  '  people's  land '  was  not  — '-' 
always  in  the  hands  of  a  humble  tenantry.  Thanes  and 
nobles  were  often  its  holders,  on  the  prescribed  conditions. 
Domesday  Book  shows  that  at  the  Conquest  nearly  half  the 
kingdom  of  Kent  was  crown  land,  and  that  the  remainder 
was  in  the  hands  of  eleven  persons,  by  whom,  as  tenants  in 
chief,  it  passed,  on  various  conditions,  to  the  hands  of  a 
numerous  secondary  tenantry.  * 

In  the  midst  of  these  holders  and  cultivators  of  the  land,  town& 
towns  gradually  made  their  appearance;  and  the  artisan 
population  of  the  towns  has  now  to  be  dealt  with,  in  the 
way  of  legislation  and  government,  along  with  the  agricul- 
tural population  of  the  province.  And  it  would  be  agreeable 
to  know  much  more  than  we  can  now  know  in  relation  both 
to  the  origin  and  constitution  of  towns  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons. 

"We  have  seen  in  what  condition  the  Britons  were  left 
by  the  Romans.  The  natives  were  incapable  of  making  a 
wise  use  of  the  Boman  cities.  The  Picts  and  Scots,  and  the 
Saxons  after  them,  were  not  disposed  to  seek  their  homes  in 
such  places.  The  Scots  were  soon  driven  back  to  their  fast- 
nesses. The  Saxons  looked  to  the  land  and  to  their  swords. 
In  the  meanwhile,  neglect  and  the  elements  sufficed  to  re- 
duce not  a  few  of  the  most  costly  works  of  the  Romans  to 
ruins.  In  this  climate,  the  falling  rains  of  winter  and  the 
progress  of  vegetation  in  summer,  if  left  to  themselves  soon 
do  the  work  of  the  destroyer.  Exposure  to  such  influences 
or  even  less  than  a  century,  would  suffice  to  reduce  the 
ordinary  buildings  to  heaps,  and  the  strongest  to  roofless 
fragments.  So  that  by  the  time  the  Saxons  became  settled 
and  industrious  enough  to  think  of  constructing  walled 
cities,  those  who  had  once  existed  were  so  far  gone  to  decay 
as  to  be  of  small  service.  In  many  instances  the  new  town 
arose  on  the  old  site.  Local  advantages  would  often  be  to 
the  new  settler  what  they  had  been  to  the  old.  But  in  all 
the  notices  we  have  of  early  Anglo-Saxon  buildings  tlie 
workmen  seem  not  so  much  to  be  availins:  themselves  of 

o 

*  Lapp.  ii.  323-326.     Lingard,  i.  461,  4G2. 


234:  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cLa?  "*  ^^^  edifices  as  raising  new,  and  to  be  constructing  them 

even  of  new  material.     Subsequently,  no  doubt,  the  Roman 

remains  contributed  to  the  education  of  the  native  workman. 
-  Tlie  Anglo-Saxon  architecture  in  stone  is  everywhere  a 
rude  imitation  of  the  Roman  j  but  the  earliest  specimens  in 
that  architecture,  as  already  mentioned,  were  of  wood,  with  a 
covering  of  reeds.  Hence  the  life  led  by  king  and  bishop 
appears  to  have  long  been,  for  the  most  part,  an  ambulatory 
life.  Places  of  sufficient  importance  to  iix  the  residence 
of  the  one  or  the  other  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  been  in 
existence. 

burgk^*^^  The  hurgh,  or  fortress,  raised  by  th6  Saxon  noble,  bore 
small  resemblance  to  the  I^orman  castle,  or  the  strong  city  of 
a  later  age.  An  elevated  ground,  defended  by  a  dyke  and  a 
framework  of  wood,  which  as  a  piece  of  fortification  was 
little  in  advance  of  an  Indian  stockade,  sufficed  for  a  while 
to  constitute  a  place  of  safety.  But  within  that  enclosure 
there  were  stout  hearts,  and  the  strong  arm.  Around  that 
fenced  dwelling-place,  the  cultivators  of  the  soil,  and  the 
few  men  who  worked  at  handicraft,  found  lodgment.  These 
men  were  always  ready  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  fight- 
ing men  often  resorting  thither,  and  to  extend  their  infant 
traffic  to  the  adjacent  country.  So  beneath  the  home  of 
the  lord  rose  a  village,  and  by  degrees  the  village  became 
a  town.  What  the  residence  of  a  noble  was  in  this  respect 
at  one  point,  the  residence  of  a  bishop,  or  some  abbot  and 
his  monks,  would  be  at  another — a  nucleus  to  organizations 
destined  to  affect  remote  generations.  The  workers  on  the 
soil,  or  at  the  loom,  clustered  about  the  centre  from  which 
they  might  hope  for  protection  ;  and  it  was  the  interest  of 
the  strong  to  protect  the  weak,  for  other  reasons  than  that 
the  weak  were  willing  to  pay  them  tribute  for  such  service. 
History  shows  that  in  this  manner  many  an  Anglo-Saxon 
town  had  its  beginnings.  Tlie '  burgh,' '  bury,'  and  '  borough,' 
found  as  terminations  in  the  names  of  so  many  of  our 
towns,  point  to  this  phase  of  our  early  history.  In  such 
places  the  strong  man  once  had  his  dwelling,  and  there  the 
weak  sought  shelter  and  safety,  and  in  process  of  time  found 
something  more.  As  a  supply  of  the  useful  became  more 
abundant,  it  created  a  taste  for  the  luxurious ;  and  in  the 


EEVOLTjnoN  IN  govern:ment.  235 

'history  of  the  luxurious,  the  possession  of  tlie  better  never  book  il 
fails  to  excite  a  desire  for  the  better  still.     Our  great  cities     — - 
are  all  the  creations,  not  of  court  pageants,  so  much  as  of 
a  prosperous  trade. 

As  these  natural  gatherings  became  towns,  enclosed  within  ^^JJ™- 
walls  and  gates,  it  may  be  said  of  them  that  they  all  became  to^^s. 
more  or  less  self-governed  communities.  The  degree  in  which 
they  possessed  this  power  would  be  determined  by  the  power 
or  policy  of  the  lord,  the  bishop,  or  the  abbot  to  whom  they 
were  subj  ect.  In  general,  they  levied  their  own  rates,  had  their 
own  common  purse,  and  chose,  in  whole  or  in  part,  their  own 
officers.  In  all  cases  the  burghers  were  bound  to  each  other  by 
'  oath  or  pledge  ; '  and  formed  confederations  which,  as  we 
enter  further  into  the  Middle  Age,  become  a  power  strong 
enough  to  check  both  nobles  and  kings  in  their  march  of  op- 
pression. In  some  instances  a  city  became  so  free  as  to  be  in- 
dependent of  any  local  authority  beyond  itself — being,  accord- 
ing to  our  language,  a  county  in  itself.  The  rights  of  such 
a  corporation  were,  in  fact,  kingly  rights.  '  Such  a  free  or- 
ganization was  capable  of  placing  a  city  upon  terms  of 
equality  with  other  constituted  powers  ;  and  hence  we  can 
easily  understand  the  position  so  frequently  assumed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  London.  As  late  as  the  tenth  century, 
and  under  Athelstan,  a  prince  who  had  carried  the  influence 
of  the  crown  to  an  extent  unexampled  in  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors, we  :&nd  the  burghers  treated  as  power  to  power  with 
the  king,  imder  their  port-reeves  and  bishops ;  engaging, 
indeed,  to  follow  his  advice,  if  he  have  any  to  give  which 
shall  be  to  their  advantage ;  but  nevertheless,  constituting 
their  own  guildships  or  commune,  by  their  own  authority, 
and  a  basis  of  mutual  alliance  and  guarantee,  as  to  them- 
selves seemed  good.'  *  If  London  could  take  such  ground, 
and  if  in  dealing  with  weaker  princes  it  could  proceed  even 
further,  theilesser  cities  would  not  be  wholly  unmindful  of 
her  example.  But  we  read  of  no  such  strifes  between  the 
burghers  and  their  lords  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  as  are 
found  in  the  history  of  the  Continental  cities,  and  in  our  own 
after  the  Conquest.    The  presumption  is,  that  though  many 

*  Kemtole,  Anglo-Saxons,  i.  310,  311, 


236  SAXONS  AND   DANES. 

^CaS  V'  ^^^^^  ^vevG  no  doubt  prone  enougli  to  play  the  tyrant,  on 

the  whole,  the  liberty  ceded  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  burghers 

was  considerable.  Suffering  in  the  towns,  we  have  reason 
to  think,  resulted  mainly  from  the  great  numbers  of  the  not 
free  and  not  protected  who  crowded  into  them.* 

the  kii'^.^^  Such,  in  general,  became  the  condition  of  the  subjects  of 
the  crown  in  Anglo-Saxon  Britain.  The  royalties,  or  per- 
sonal rights  of  the  sovereign,  were  various.  His  life  and 
person  were  protected  by  the  heaviest  penalties  known  to 
the  law.  He  had  the  use  of  large  territories,  corresponding 
to  our  Woods  and  Forests,  which  passed  with  the  crown  to 
his  successor.  The  holder  of  this  property  was  the  king ; 
its  guardianship  was  with  the  Witanagemote.  Besides  his 
revenue  from  this  source,  the  monarch  received,  after  the 
German  custom,  voluntary  contributions,  in  kind  or  other- 
wise, from  the  freemen  ;  contributions  which,  from  being 
voluntary,  became  a  custom,  and  becoming  a  custom,  were 
too  often  interpreted  as  taking  with  them  the  force  of 
law,  and  as  implying  the  right  of  exaction.  Of  the  fines 
and  confiscations  for  offences  a  part  went  to  the  king.  It 
belonged  to  him  to  maintain  a  military  force,  which,  though 
necessarily  limited  by  his  means,  partook  of  the  nature  of 
a  standing  army.  It  was  with  the  king  to  convene  the 
Witanagemote.  But  he  had  not  the  power  to  dispense  with 
its  meetings,  nor  was  it  to  be  dissolved  at  his  pleasure.  In 
this  fact  we  trace  the  presence  of  a  great  principle  of 
liberty,  favourable  alike  to  the  freedom  of  the  subject  and 
to  the  safety  of  the  throne.  The  king,  as  the  conservator 
of  the  public  peace,  could  summon  the  militia  to  suj^press 
disorder,  or  to  meet  an  invader.  The  coinage  was  in  his 
charge.  He  was,  moreover,  the  fountain  of  justice,  inasmuch 
as  to  his  court  appeals  might  be  made  from  all  other  courts  ; 
and  the  fountain  of  honour  also,  inasmuch  as  he  could  raise 
his  servants,  civil  or  military,  to  new  positions  ♦f  rank  and 
title.t 

*  The  Domesday  Booh  makes  frequent  mention  of  what  had  been  the  old 
usage  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  towns  and  cities,  and  leaves  those  customs  undis- 
turbed.— Introduction  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis,  Ixi.-lxvii.  All  the  boroughs  had  to 
make  their  contributions  to  the  king  in  men,  horses,  arms,  and  money  payments. 
But  the  nature  of  the  contributions  varied  somewhat  with  locality. 

f  Kemble,  ii.  c.  2.     The  German  estimate  of  the  female  character  is  evinced 


REVOLUTION   IN   GOVERNMENT.  237 

These  prerogatives,  and  some  others,  formed  a  large  field  b^^k  il 
for  the  exercise  of  the  kingly  power.  The  exact  limits  ^^^j^,^ 
within  which  such  royalties  would  be  kept,  depended  much  tousehok 
on  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  sovereign.  Nor 
did  the  royal  influence  terminate  in  such  privileges.  As 
the  monarchy  became  consolidated,  the  court  and  the  house- 
hold were  constituted  of  men  who,  while  themselves  often 
of  high  rank,  had  learned  to  value  such  relations  to  the 
king  as  opening  to  them  new  sources  of  wealth  and  power. 
The  chamberlain,  who  had  the  care  of  the  household  ;  the 
marshal,  who  possessed  the  command  of  the  cavalry ;  the 
steward,  who  took  charge  of  the  royal  table ;  the  butler, 
who  acted  as  the  king's  cupbearer ;  the  clergy,  who  were 
there  to  discharge  their  spiritual  functions — all  these,  while 
deriving  much  from  their  connexion  with  the  king,  in  their 
turn,  reflected  lustre  on  his  court,  and  added  weight  to  his 
influence  and  authority.  * 

In  the  administration  of  justice  among  the  Anglo-Saxons  ^ftTJn'S 
we  find  principles  which  may  be  traced  in  our  later  usages,  SbV" 
and  others  which  have  been  superseded  by  our  more  ad- i'^'^Sp^^Jg^. 
vanced  civilization.     The  finding  of  a  verdict  in  the  Hun-  **'^* 
dred  Court,  and  in  all  other  courts,  was  the  province  of 
twelve  thanes  or  free  tenants,  or  it  might  be  that  the  judg- 
ment would  be  with  twice  or  thrice  that  number,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  case.     The  voice  of  two  thirds 
gave  a  sufficient  verdict.     "When  the  evidence  was  not  such 
as  to  warrant  a  judgment,  the  decision  taken  was  on  the 
ground  of  compurgation — that  is,  according  to  the  oaths  of 
persons  expressing  their  belief  in  the  veracity  of  the  decla- 
rations made  by  the  accuser  or  the  accused.     In  this  deci- 
sion by  oath,  every  compurgator's  oath  was  of  w^eight  ac- 
cording to  his  social  position  as  determined  by  his  wergild. 

in  the  place  assigned  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  queen.  She  was  consecrated  and 
crowned  with  her  husband,  or  separately  if  the  king  married  after  he  had  become 
king.  Other  provisions  of  Saxon  law  in  relation  to  the  queen  were  in  accordance 
with  this  usage.  The  exception  to  this  custom  in  Wessex,  in  consequence  of  the 
crimes  of  Eadburga,  was  merely  exceptional,  and  after  a  time,  even  there,  the 
ancient  usage  was  restored. — Lapp.  ii.  310.  Ellis,  Introd.  i.  171.  Heywood  on 
Ranks. 

*  Palgrave's  English  Commonwealth^  ii.  345.     Philipps,  Angelsachs^  §  23. 
Lapp.  ii.  311,  312. 


238  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 

^c2i?.  "*  ^^  ^^"^®  ^^^^^  *^^  number  of  compurgators  required  to  ensure 
an  acquittal  was  fixed  by  law,  often  the  numbers  proffer- 
ing tlieir  attestations  greatly  exceeding  that  limit.  It  some- 
times happened  that,  after  both  investigation  and  compur- 
gation, the  court  would  be  perplexed.  In  such  instances  it 
was  not  unusual,  in  civil  cases,  for  twelve  or  more  thanes, 
chosen  equally  by  the  litigants,  to  retire  from  the  court 
that  they  might  deliberate  upon  their  verdict.  In  criminal 
cases,  the  course  of  proceeding  was  in  nearly  all  respects 
the  same,  except  that  trial  by  ordeal  was  then  open  to  the 
accused,  in  place  of  trial  by  compurgation,  should  he  be 
disposed  to  take  that  alternative.  Our  trial  by  jury  grew 
out  of  such  usages,  but  in  several  respects  it  is  something 
different  and  better.* 

ordeiJ^  I^  ^^^i^^  ^y  ordeal  the  culprit  was  enjoined  to  give  him- 

self to  fasting  and  prayer  for  three  days.  On  the  last  day  he 
received  the  sacrament,  and  was  admonished  not  to  proceed 
unless  conscious  of  his  innocence.  The  place  of  trial  was  a 
church.  The  only  persons  present  were  the  accuser,  the  accus- 
ed, and  twelve  friends  on  either  side  as  witnesses  of  the  pro- 
ceeding. The  parties  stood  in  lines  opposite  each  other,  as  the 
litany  was  read.  If  the  trial  was  by  water,  a  vessel  was  placed 
on  a  fire  in  the  midst,  and  it  was  seen  that  the  water  boiled. 
The  accused  then  thrust  his  hand  into  the  vessel ;  the  priest 
immediately  wound  a  cloth  over  the  scald,  and  placed  a  seal 
upon  it,  which  was  to  remain  unbroken  for  three  days.  If  the 
trial  was  by  fire,  the  alleged  culprit  seized  a  bar  of  hot 
iron,  and  bore  it  to  the  distance  of  three  steps.  The  cloth 
was  then  placed  about  the  hand  in  the  same  manner. 
At  the  expiration  of  three  days  the  seal  was  broken,  and  if 
the  hand  was  found  to  be  healed,  the  party  was  acquitted  ; 
if  not,  he  was  condemned.  As  there  were  many  cases  in 
^hich  the  healing  was  declared  to  have  taken  place,  it  is 
difiicult  to  suppose  that  the  clergy  were  wholly  guiltless 
in  the  part  they  took  in  these  proceedings.  The  probability 
is,  that  the  guilty  who  committed  themselves  to  such  an 

*  Hist.  Ram.  415,  416.  Regist.  Roff.  32.  Hist.  Miens.  479.  Laws  of 
Ethelred^  iii.  3.  Leg.  Sax.  262.  Palgrave's  Commonwealth^  i.  100,  216.  Lap- 
penberg,  ii.  344-346. 


EEVOLUTIOK  IK   GOVERNMENT.  239 

experiment,  did  so  from  some  collusion  with  tlie  priest ;  book  ir. 

and  that  the  innocent  were  influenced  by  an  excessive  ere-    ' 

dulity  as  to  the  power  of  the  priesthood.  The  experiment, 
however,  was  very  rarely  attempted ;  and  its  design, 
whether  in  its  pagan  or  in  its  Christian  connexion,  was  to 
bring  the  guilty  to  confession  by  means  adapted  to  affect 
the  imo-ination  and  the  conscience.* 

o 

Such  was  the  change  in  respect  to  government  which  summary 
resulted  from  the  conquests  of  the  Saxons  and  Danes  in  jv"on  in 
Britain.     The  rover  finds  a  settled  dwelling-place.      The  ™«"<^ 
man  who  had. lived  by  plunder  puts  his  hand  to  honest  in- 
dustry.   The  culture  of  the  soil  is  followed  by  the  construc- 
tion of  the  village  and  the  town.     The  men  who  find  their 
home  in  the  new  country  became  concerned  for  the  safety 
of   their  newly  acquired  substance,  and  of  their  persons. 

*  Leg.  Sax.  26,  27,  et  seq.  Trial  by  single  combat  was  not  unknown  among 
the  ancient  Germans.  Grimm  {D.  R.  A.  927  et  seq.)  is  cited  by  Lappenberg 
(ii.  347)  as  giving  examples,  Edmund  Ironside's  challenge  to  Canute  is  a  fact 
which  seems  to  recognise  such  a  custom  in  our  history.  Our  trial  by  jury  is,  as 
commonly  supposed,  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  But  the  number  twelve  was  often 
fixed  on  by  our  ancestors  in  their  judicial  process.  The  function  of  jurors, 
moreover,  in  those  days,  differed  materially  from  that  now  assigned  to  them, 
'  Trial  by  jury,  according  to  the  old  English  law,  was  a  proceeding  essentially 
different  from  the  modern  tribunal  still  bearing  the  ancient  name,  by  which  it  has 
been  replaced  ;  and  whatever  merits  belong  to  the  original  mode  of  judicial  in- 
vestigation— and  they  were  great  and  unquestionable,  though  accompanied  by 
many  imperfections — such  benefits  are  not  to  be  exactly  identified  with  the  ad- 
vantages now  resulting  from  the  great  bulwark  of  English  liberty.  Jurymen  of 
the  present  day  are  the  triers  of  the  issue  ;  they  are  individuals  who  found  their 
opinion  upon  evidence,  whether  oral  or  written,  adduced  before  them  ;  and  the 
verdict  delivered  by  them  is  their  declaration  of  the  judgment  they  have  formed. 
But  the  ancient  jurymen  were  not  empannelled  to  examine  into  the  credibility  of 
the  evidence — the  question  was  not  discussed  and  argued  before  them :  they,  the 
jurymen,  were  the  witnesses  themselves ;  and  the  verdict  was  substantially  the 
examination  of  these  witnesses,  who,  of  their  own  knowledge,  and  without  the 
aid  of  other  testimony,  afforded  their  evidence  respecting  the  facts  in  question 
to  the  best  of  their  belief  In  its  primitive  form,  therefore,  a  trial  by  jury  was 
only  a  trial  by  witnesses  ;  and  jurymen  were  distinguished  from  other  witnesses 
only  by  the  customs  which  imposed  upon  them  the  obligation  of  an  oath,  and 
regulated  their  number,  and  which  prescribed  their  rank  and  defined  the  territo- 
rial qualifications  from  which  they  obtained  their  degree  and  influence  in  soci- 
ety.'— Palgrave's  English  Commonwealth^  i.  243,  244. 

Perhaps  the  difference  between  the  trial  by  compurgators  and  our  trial  by 
jury  is  a  little  overstated  in  the  above  passage.  The  oath  of  the  compurgators 
was  valued  as  being  that  of  men  from  the  neighbourhood  who  were  likely  to 
know  the  character  of  the  accused,  and  to  know  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
not  merely  by  common  rumour,  but  by  means  more  definite  and  certain.  When 
they  were  agreed  in  saying  not  guilty,  the  sentence  of  the  magistrate  would 
scarcely  be  at  issue  with  that  decision.  Their  words  were  virtually,  though  not 
formally,  an  acquittal.  It  was,  however,  a  material  advance  when  the  evidence 
came  to  be  adduced  in  court,  and  the  decision  of  guilty  or  not  guilty  was  made 
to  rest  with  the  jury,  and  not  with  the  judge. 


240  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

^cTa?.  "*  ^®  '  ^^^^^  ^^^  pledge '  whicli  had  bound  them  as  freeboot- 
*  ers  now  binds  them  as  men  engaged  in  better  occupations, 
and  disposed  to  exchange  government  by  the  sword  for 
government  by  the  law.  Tithings  and  hundreds  and  shire- 
courts  weave  them  all  into  a  great  social  network  which 
covers  the  land.  Every  man  enters  into  a  security  for  the 
good  conduct  of  the  men  nearest  about  him  and  acts  con- 
tinually from  the  nature  of  the  case  as  an  officer  of  police — • 
and  as  an  officer  whose  motives  to  vigilance  supersede  the 
necessity  of  pay.  Such  as  were  not  responsible  to  the  court 
of  the  hundred  were  responsible  to  the  hall-court  of  their 
lord.  All  localities  have  their  local  governments,  and  each 
\  locality  has  its  refuge  against  injustice  from  within  itself  in 
its  right  of  appeal  to  the  sense  of  justice  beyond  and  above 
itself.  For  the  tithings,  the  hundreds,  the  hall-mote,  the 
shires,  the  king's-court,  the  king  himself — none  of  these  are 
absolute.  The  last  resort  lies  with  the  wisdom  of  the  great 
council  of  the  nation  conjoined  with  the  king.  By  the  weak 
and  necessitous  such  ultimate  appeals  would  rarely  be 
made.  But  the  right  was  open  to  such  cases  and  persons 
as  might  reasonably  claim  a  hearing  in  that  high  quarter. 
Such  is  the  polity  which,  in  new  circumstances,  grew  out  of 
those  simple  principles  of  government  which  had  been  com- 
mon to  the  Germanic  race  from  the  earliest  time,  and  which 
were  to  be  further  developed  through  the  storm  and  labour 
of  centuries  in  English  history.  The  not  free  among  the 
Anglo-Saxons  were  as  we  have  seen  either  slaves  or  persons 
under  the  protection  of  particular  lords.  Among  these 
some  were  rich,  many  were  needy  ;  and  the  benevolence  of 
our  ancestors  assigned  a  fourth  of  the  revenue  of  the 
clergy,  from  all  sources,  to  the  special  benefit  of  the  poor.* 
In  judging  of  the  revolution  involved  in  the  settled  gov- 
ernment of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  reader  has  to  view  that 
government  in  two  relations — in  its  relation  to  the  disorders 
which  it  superseded  in  the  case  of  the  Romanized  Britons  ; 
and  in  its  relation  to  the  rude  organizations  of  the  Saxon 
hordes  who  migrated  to  our  shores  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries. 

*  Kemble's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  ii.  c.  11. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

EEVOLUTIOI^  IN  SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ANGLO-SAXON  BEITAIN. 

WAR  is  the  great  feature  in  Anglo-Saxon  history.     But  book  il 
even  in  these  circumstances   the  industrious  habits     — '—' 
of  the  people  are  conspicuous.     The  names  of  our  old  im-  iife  in 

.     .        Anglo- 

plements  of  husbandry  are  nearly  all  of  Saxon  origin.  Sftxon  Bri- 
Some  knowledge  of  this  science  the  settlers  may  have  culture. 
acquired  from  the  Romanized  Britons.  But  they  had  not 
been  wholly  strangers  to  such  occupations  in  the  countries 
from  whence  they  came.  To  till  the  ground,  indeed,  had 
never  been  the  work  of  their  free  men.  It  had  been  left  to 
women  and  slaves.  ]S"or  did  the  agriculture  of  this  island 
ever  become,  in  the  hands  of  the  Saxons,  what  it  had  been 
under  the  Romans.  But  its  progress,  though  unequal, 
was  continuous  and  considerable,  down  to  the  Conquest. 

Much  time  was  given  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  to  the  rearing 
of  cattle  and  swine.  The  large  pasture,  and  the  extensive 
forest  lands,  at  their  disposal,  were  favourable  to  such  pur- 
suits. Even  the  villeins,  or  peasants,  were  encouraged  to 
become  herdsmen  on  a  small  scale.  The  goat  gave  tliem 
milk  and  fleece.  The  skins  of  their  herds  gave  them  leather 
for  shoes,  breeches,  and  gloves — the  latter  being  generally 
w^orn,  even  by  the  humblest.  Wool  was  an  article  of  ex- 
portation, and  was  returned  by  the  artisans  of  the  liiTether- 
lands  and  of  the  Rhine  provinces  in  the  form  of  woollen 
cloths.  Honey  was  much  valued  ;  and  the  bee-master  was 
a  person  almost  as  well-known  as  the  swineherd.  Great 
care  was  bestowed  on  the  breeding  of  horses  ;  and  laws 
were  enacted  to  ensure  attention  to  that  object.  Hence  the 
readiness  with  which  the  Danish  invaders  mustered  their  cav- 
VoL.  I.— 16 


24:2  SAXONS  AND  DANES. 

BOOK  n.  ally.     We  do  not  find  that  corn  was  ever  imported  into 

Saxon  Britain,  nor  does  the  country  appear  to  have  suffered 

so  much  as  most  countries  in  those  times  from  dearth,  though 
mention  is  made  of  seasons  in  which  the  suffering  from  this 
cause  was  great  Tlie  grain  raised  consisted  of  wheat, 
barley,  rye,  and  oats  :  the  latter  were  grown  in  great  quan- 
tities,  and  appear  to  have  been  used  as  food  by  the  people, 
much  as  in  Scotland.  The  rent  of  land  was  generally  paid 
in  produce,  it  was  rarely  a  money  payment."^ 

SiTem?  Among  the  good  works  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  husbandmen, 

an  men  .  ^^  niust  rcckou  their  experiments  in  draining  and  embank- 
ments. Large  tracts  of  marsh  land  were  thus  reclaimed, 
especially  in  the  eastern  counties.  Garden  culture  was 
common,  and  not  less  so  the  culture  of  the  vine.  Beer,  ale, 
and  wine  from  the  grape,  were  the  common  beverage.  The 
citizens  of  London,  who  strolled  on  summer  holidays  from 
Barbican  across  Smithfield,  or  from  Ludgate  over  Holborn 
Hill,  did  so  amidst  meadows,  gardens,  and  vineyards.  Every 
monastery  had  its  vineyard.  Gloucestershire  was  especially 
famous  for  its  grapes.  The  wine  so  produced  had  its  place 
on  the  king's  table.  In  the  better  sort,  the  acidity,  we  may 
suppose,  was  subdued  by  artificial  means.f 

jiineg^  The  Komans  amassed  large  wealth  from  the  mines  of 

Britain.  But  the  Britons  did  not  prosecute  the  labours  so 
commenced,  and  soon  lost  the  knowledge  so  acquired.  Even 
the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall  seem  to  have  been  neglected  for 
many  centuries  after  the  departure  of  the  Komans.  But 
the  Saxons  obtained  lead  in  Derbyshire,  and  iron  in  abun- 
dance from  many  quarters,  particularly  from  Somersetshire, 
Monmouthshire,  and  Herefordshire.  AVilliam  of  Poitiers 
speaks  of  the  universal  wealth  of  Britain  as  greatly  exceed- 
ing that  of  France,  and,  strange  to  say,  describes  the  island 
as  another  Arabia  from  the  abundance  of  its  gold.  Salt 
was  a  great  article  of  trafiic  among  the  Anglo-Saxons.  The 
chief  salt  works  were  in  Sussex  and  Cheshire.  Li  the 
former  county  they  numbered  nearly  four  hundred    such 

*  Guil.  Pictav.  210.  Laws  of  Ina^  xliv.  et  seq.  and  of  Athehtan.  Zibcr 
Niger  Scaccarii,  lib.  i  c.  Y.     Hist.  Miens,  i.  52.     Lappenberg,  ii.  356  et  seq. 

f  Malms,  de  Font  lib.  iv.  Hist.  Bliens.  apud  Gale.  ii.  2.  Ellis,  Introd.  i. 
106,  203.     Rymer,  i.  11. 


REVOLUTION   IN   SOCIAL  LIFE.  243 

works  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.     "Wales  was  supplied  book  il 

for  the  most  part  from  the  pits  in  Cheshire.*  — '-' 

The  men  who  lived  by  trade  or  handicraft  were  few,  iiap^ic^ 

•^  '  and  foreign 

compared  with  those  who  were  otherwise  employed.  Houses,  ^'■*^^- 
furniture,  utensils,'  clothing,  personal  orMaments,  all  these 
suppose  considerable  industry  and  skill  in  the  '  mysteries, 
which  gave  existence  to  such  productions.  Most  of  these, 
we  may  be  assured,  were  by  native  artists,  though  foreign 
workmen  were  introduced  by  ecclesiastics  and  kings,  from 
time  to  time,  who  became  the  educators  of  native  talent. 
Cathedrals  and  royal  residences  came  by  degrees  to  be  built 
of  stone ;  but  the  houses  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  even  of 
their  great  men,  continued  to  be  constructed,  for  the  most 
part,  of  wood  and  other  perishable  material.f  Stamford  is 
mentioned  as  the  place  where  a  company  of  cloth  weavers 
followed  their  vocation.  :j:  In  the  working  of  embroidery, 
presenting  a  rich  display  of  colours  and  gold,  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  and  especially  the  females,  so  far  excelled,  that 
prodactions  of  this  nature  became  known  in  most  of  the 
capitals  of  Europe  under  the  name  of  'English  Work.  '§ 
So  early  as  the  eighth  century  we  find  an  English  merchant 
named  Bolto  resident  at  Marseilles,  the  said  merchant  being 
the  father  of  a  bishop.]  Such  men,  we  have  reason  to 
believe,  were  known  in  all  the  great  marts  of  the  Continent. 
One  of  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Elder  raised  the  merchant 
who  had  made  three  voyages  in  his  own  ship  to  the  rank  of 
a  tliane.Tf  Charlemagne,  as  we  have  seen,  sent  to  Offa,  king 
of  Mercia,  the  complaint  of  certain  French  merchants  con- 
cerning their  woollen  articles  exported  from  England  as 
being  unfairly  diminished  in  size.**  London  was  known  as 
the  great  meeting-place  of  foreign  traders.  French,  Normans, 
Flemings,  '  men  of  the  Emperor,'  that  is,  men  from  the 
rising  Hanse  towns  of  Germany — all  might  be  seen  in  their 

*  Guil.  Pictav.  107.  Domesday,  i.  268.  Ellis,  i.  132.  Lappenberg,  ii. 
363-364. 

f  Bede,  Hist.  Abb.  195.  Eddius,  Vita  Wilf.  c.  16,  17,  22.  Asser,  Vita 
Alf.  20.     Malms,  de  Reg.  lib.  2,  3.     Ingulph. 

X  Domesday,  i.  336.  §  Muratori,  Antiq.  v.  12.     Guil.  Pictav.  211. 

II  Lappenberg,  ii.  364. 

■|[  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutions  of  Engla^id,  81. 

**  Epist.  Caroli  ad  Offam,  Wilkins,  i.  159. 


244 


SAXONS   AND   DANES. 


^Ca3.  "■  f^^^^igii  costume,  and  heard  in  their  foreign  tongue,  as  they 
exposed  their  commodities  for  sale  on  the  land  at  Billings- 
gate, or  in  their  vessels  upon  the  Thames.  As  it  was  in 
this  respect  in  London,  so  was  it  in  a  measure  in  all  the 
chief  seaports.  Bristol,  even  then,  was  a  place  of  much 
traffic*  Its  merchants  were  in  constant  intercourse  with 
Ireland,  where  they  carried  on  a  trade  in  slaves. f  But  these 
different  kinds  of  traffic  were  conducted  for  the  most  part 
in  the  way  of  barter.  Some  of  the  bolder  Anglo-Saxon 
seamen  engaged  in  the  whale  fishery,  and  extended  their 
voyages  to  Iceland,  f 

So  did  the  industrial  and  commercial  genius  of  the 
Saxon  race  in  Britain  begin  to  develop  itself.  The  sea-king 
thus  gave  himself  to  the  service  which  was  to  transform  him 
into  the  merchant-king.  In  this  new  form  of  the  spirit  of 
adventure  we  see  the  germ  of  the  power  which  has  since 
given  a  people  to  half  the  continent  of  America,  and  has  set 
up  its  sovereignty  over  the  fairest  portion  of  Africa  and 
India.  The  impulse  is  still  the  impulse  of  race — resolute, 
enduring,  indomitable.  When  the  home  of  the  Saxon  was 
changed,  his  vocation  and  tastes  changed ;  but  this  change 
has  been  simply  the  finding  of  a  new  outlet  for  the  old  ten- 
dency towards  action  and  adventure,  and  the  old  passion 
for  dominion. 

The  intellectual  life  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  in  our  sense 
of  that  expression,  begins  with  their  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity. The  bard,  combining  skill  in  poetry  and  music, 
has  his  place  in  nearly  all  rude  nations.  We  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  lyric  poetry  of  the  pagan  I^orthmen ; 
but  we  know  nothing  of  this  embryo  literature  as  it  may 
have  existed  among  the  pagan  Saxons.  Many  attempts  have 
been  made  to  interpret  the  old  Runic  characters  of  the 
Scandinavians  ;  but  the  results  of  such  labour  are  of  small 
value.  § 

*  Lappenberg,  ii.  315. 

f  Anglia  Sacra,  ii.      Vita  8.  Wulsfani. 

\  Lappenberg,  ii.  364.  There  are  many  laws  which  show  that  the  internal 
trade  of  Saxon  Britain  was  considerable,  and  subject  to  many  cautious  regula- 
tions.—Ibid,  ii.  355,  356. 

§  Palgrave's  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  c.  vii. 


The  intel- 
lectual life 
of  the 
Anglo- 
Saxons. 


REVOLUTION   IN   SOCIAL   LIFE.  245 

"We  scarcely  need  say,  that  with  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  ^^^^  il 
capacity  to  read  and  write  continued  to  the  last  to  he  ^^^-^j^^ 
almost  exclusively  tlie  accomplishment  of  the  clergy.  Even  p^^^'t. 
kings  were  not  expected  to  attach  their  names  to  docu- 
ments, but  to  '  sign '  with  a  cross.  But  it  was  the  manner 
of  our  ancestors  to  learn  their  poetry,  and  especially  their 
ballad  and  glee  poetry,  by  heart ;  and  in  this  way  they  often 
possessed  themselves  of  the  contents  of  books  while  desti- 
tute of  books.  Of  music  they  were  passionately  fond; 
and  it  was  their  custom  in  their  social  gatherings  to  sing 
in  parts,  combining  the  harmony  of  verse  with  the  harmony 
of  sound.  The  word  '  glee '  is  of  Saxon  origin,  and  has 
descended  to  us  from  times  when  our  countrymen  who 
could  not  read  verse,  found  delight  in  singing  it.  Alfred 
records  in  his  Hand-hoc  that  Aldhelm,  bishop  of  Sherborne, 
to  secure  the  attention  of  his  rude  neighbours,  was  wont  to 
stand  on  a  bridge  and  sing  his  religious  instruction  to  them 
in  the  form  of  ballads.* 

But  the  poetry  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  even  in  their  Chris- 
tain  state,  never  rose  to  a  level  to  be  interesting  to  modern 
readers,  except  as  belonging  to  the  curious  in  the  history 
of  literature.  The  best  known  among  this  class  of  composi- 
tions, is  the  narrative  poem  by  Cedmon,  and  the  poems  on 
Beowulf  and  Judith.  The  compositions  of  these  authors  have 
something  of  an  epic  purpose  in  them.  Aldhelm,  Alcuin,  and 
other  men  of  their  order,  also  wrote  p  oetry ;  but  they  wrote 
in  Latin,  not  in  the  vernacular  tongue.  Cedmon  is  much  prais- 
ed by  Bede.  His  narrative  embraces  the  fall  of  the  angels,  the 
creation,  the  entrance  of  sin,  and  the  victory  achieved  over 
Satan.  It  treats  of  Paradise  as  lost  and  as  regained.  The  con- 
ception is  so  far  Miltonic,  but  we  cannot  speak  of  the  execution 
as  being  of  that  order.  The  author  of  Beowulf  is  not  known. 
The  work  is  attributed  to  the  tenth  century.  It  is  a  his- 
torical romance,  with  a  good  deal  of  the  old  saga  or  heathen 
element  in  it.  Eothgar,  a  king,  finds  many  of  his  faithful 
thanes  cut  off  by  the  secret  agency  of  Grendal,  one  of  the 

*  Ibid.  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk  ix.  c.  1.  We  may  judge  of  the  pleas- 
ure whieli  the  Anglo-Saxons  felt  in  glee  singing  from  the  fact  that  many  canons 
of  the  church  forbid  the  clergy  being  parties  to  such  amusements. — Ancient  Laics 
and  Institutions,  400,  401,  418. 


246  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

^cnli  9^'  ^^^  deities  of  the  Saxon  mythology.     Beowulf,  a  young 

warrior  from  a  distant  land,  undertakes  to  destroy  Grendal, 

and  through  some  difficulty  and  danger,  at  length  succeeds. 
In  the  development  of  this  story  descriptions  are  given  of 
persons,  scenes,  conversations,  and  encounters,  which  illus- 
trate the  thinking  and  manners  of  the  times.  The  poem 
of  Judith  is  founded  on  the  story  of  Judith  and  Holofernes, 
but  exhibits — characters  and  manners — a  strange  medley  of 
Eastern  and  Western,  ancient  and  modem. 

The  poetical  element  in  these  compositions  is  very  lim- 
ited. It  is  almost  confined  to  a  few  Ossian-like  turns  of 
thought  or  expression,  which  occur  at  intervals.  The  sub- 
stance consists  of  what  we  should  account  indifferent  prose, 
subject  to  the  restraints  of  a  particular  rhythm,  the  laws  of 
which  it  is  often  difficult  to  discover.  Tlie  Latin  poetry  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons  is  deserving  notice  mainly,  not  as  poetry, 
but  as  ,  illustrating  the  taste  and  scholarship  realized  in 
those  days.  If  the  poet  too  often  lacked  fire  in  his  native 
tongue,  he  was  not  likely  to  feel  it  in  attempting  to  speak 
through  all  the  artificial  impediments  of  an  acquired  lan- 
guage.* 

Ballads.  The  nearest  approach  to  genuine  poetry  in  the  history 

of  Anglo-Saxon  literature  appears  to  have  been  realized  in 
the  popular  lyric  ballads.  These  compositions,  as  designed 
for  the  people,  and  not  for  the  scholar,  were  natural  in  their 
style  and  substance,  bearing  only  a  very  partial  resemblance 
to  the  more  ambitious  productions  just  mentioned.  They 
came  into  prevalence  in  the  later  period  of  Anglo-Saxon 
history.  They  treated  of  love,  war,  and  the  manners  of 
the  times,  and  of  these  with  the  admixture  of  pathos,  energy, 
and  satire  common  to  the  minstrel  in  his  use  of  such  themes. 
Many  of  the  anecdotes  given  with  so  much  finish  in  Hume's 
HistorylroTQ.  Malmsburyand  others,  were  transmitted  in  this 
form  to  the  times  of  the  l^ormans.  The  licentious  habits  of 
king  Edgar,  the  great  favourite  of  Dunstan  and  liis  church- 
men, did  not  escape  the  lash  of  this  troubadour  literafture. 
Some  judgment  may  be  formed  of  the  skill  which  at  times 
characterize  those  performances,  from  the  account  given 

*  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons^  bk.  ix.  c.  i.-T. 


EEVOLrXION   IN    SOCIAL   LIFE.  247 

of  Alfred  as  iindino;  his  way  to  the  tent  of  Giithorm  the  b?^^  "• 

/.  •  1         X  Chap.  9. 

Dane  under  the  privileged  guise  of  a  minstrel.     In  that     

guise,  too,  Anlaf,  the  great  Northman  leader,  is  said  to  have 
gained  access  to  the  tent  of  Athelstan,  when  that  king  led 
his  formidable  army  into  Northumbria.  It  thus  appears 
that  the  most  distinguished  and  accomplished  men  were 
known  to  be  students  in  this  art ;  and  that  the  harper,  had 
his  place  and  reputation  with  all  ranks,  with  people  and 
princes.* 

The  prose  literature  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  coming  as  it  ^^"^frV'**' 
did  wholly  from  the  clergy,  was  naturally  in  a  great  degree 
ecclesiastical  and  theological.  The  only  teaching  accessible 
to  them  was  such  teaching  as  characterized  the  darkest  in- 
terval of  the  Middle  Age.  The  writings  of  Bede  and  Alcuin 
give  us  the  most  favourable  view  of  prose  composition  as 
found  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergy  ;  and  to  mention  the 
most  favourable  example  among  laymen  is,  of  course,  to 
name  the  great  Alfred.  We  learn  from  the  writings  of 
Alcuin,  that  he  grew  up  from  childhood  in  the  city  of 
York,  and  that  he  was  educated  in  the  school  or  college 
sustained  there  by  the  pious  archbishop  Egbert.  The  arch- 
bishop, and  Aelbert  his  kinsman,  conducted  the  teaching 
of  the  establishment.  The  course  of  instruction  embraced 
grammar,  rhetoric,  jurisprudence,  poetry,  astronomy,  physic, 
and  theology — the  last  consisting  of  expositions  of  the  Old 
and  'New  Testaments.  Grateful  was  the  feeling  of  Alcuin 
as  he  looked  back  in  after  life  to  the  services  of  Aelbert 
in  York,  and  remembered  how  the  good  man  endeavoured  to 
inspire  his  pupils  with  a  true  love  of  learning,  as  he  read  to 
them  from  the  pages  of  many  Latin  authors — such  as  Cicero, 
Yirgil,  Pliny,  Statins,  Lucan,  and  Boethius.  Alcuin  was 
resident  eight  years  in  the  court  of  Charlemagne,  and  sub- 
sequently found  the  quiet  he  coveted  as  abbot  of  Tours. 
His  reputation  and  influence  were  great,  both  in  the  French 
court  and  in  France  generally.  Bede's  influence  was  more 
felt  in  his  own  country.  Both  w^ere  men  of  piety,  and  of 
great  industry  ;  but  Alcuin  was  more  free  from  superstitious 

*  Malmsbury  de  Reg,  lib.  ii.  c.  4,  6.     Bede,  Hist.  lib.  iv.  e.  24.     Ingulf,  67, 
68.     Hist.  Miens.  505. 


248  SAXONS   AND  DANES. 

^(SiA?.9.^'  credulity,  more  a  man  of  the  world,  and  a  man  .of  general 
capacity  and  culture,  than  the  devout  Saxon  to  whom  the 
affection  of  our  ancestors  gave  the  name  of  the  '  Yenera- 
ble.'  The  prose  writings  of  both  these  authors  are  admira- 
ble for  their  unpretending  simplicity.*  On  these  models  the 
style  of  Alfred  was  formed.  Malmsbury  is  loud  in  his  praise 
of  bishop  Aldhelm  as  a  prose  writer,  but  the  praise  is  ill- 
bestowed.  He  is  everywhere  exaggerated "  and  unnat- 
ural.f 

Mental  cui-         The  most  favourablo  period  in  the  history  of  An^lo- 

ture  check-  .  ^  o 

ed  by  the  Saxou  literature  is  that  associated  with  the  names  of  Bede 
and  Alcuin.  Tlieir  disciples  were  many.  But  soon  after 
their  day  began  the  invasions  of  the  Northmen  ;  and  such 
were  the  ravages  then  perpetrated,  that  the  labours  of  Alfred 
in  this  direction  were  not  so  much  labours  to  originate  learned 
studies  as  to  restore  them.  The  great  Anglo-Saxon  king  was 
occupied  during  the  earlier  part  of  his  reign  in  the  strug- 
gle to  save  his  country  from  the  hands  of  the  men  who  had 
invaded  it.  When  that  object  had  been  as  far  as  possible 
achieved,  he  began  to  look  to  the  social  improvement  and 
the  intellectual  culture  of  his  people.  In  regard  to  litera- 
ture he  had  himself  much  to  learn.  Until  this  time  he  had 
been  ignorant  of  the  Latin  tongue.  Amidst  the  cares  of  a 
royalty  especially  beset  with  care,  he  acquired  a  knowl- 
edge of  that  language.  The  use  he  made  of  this  new  power, 
was  to  translate  from  that  language  such  works  as  he 
thought  most  likely  to  promote  the  religious  and  general 
improvement  of  his  subjects.  "What  are  called  Alfred's 
Works,  consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  these  translations.  But 
they  are  very  free  translations.  He  often  gives  the  sub- 
stance, in  the  place  of  the  literal  rendering.  He  often  omits 
and  inserts  at  pleasure.  These  publications,  accordingly, 
become  expressive  of  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  patriot 
king.  Among  the  works  thus  selected,  were  the  Chronicle 
of  the  World,  a  sort  of  general  history  by  Orosius ;  the 
Consolations  of  Philosophy,  by  that  last  of  the  Romans, 
Boethius ;  portions  of  the  writings  of  Pope  Gregory,  and, 

*  See  the  Life  of  Alcuin^  by  Dr.  Frederick  Lorenz. 

f  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons^  bk.  ix.  c.  6.     Palgrave,  c.  7,  8,  9. 


REVOLUTION   IN   SOCIAL  LIFE.  249 

apparently,  Bede's  EcclesiasUcal  History.    Copies  of  these  book  il 

writings  were  multiplied  and  distributed,  especially  in  the     

places  where  the  clergy  were  engaged  in  the  work  of  educa- 
tion.* The  effect  of  such  an  example  must  have  been  very 
great.  But  all  these  hopeful  proceedings  were  not  a  little 
counteracted  by  the  subsequent  inroads  of  the  Danes.  To 
the  warlike  god  Odin,  no  sacrifice  was  thought  to  be  more 
acceptable,  than  that  of  men  who  had  deserted  his  worship, 
and  become  a  set  of  shaven  psalm-singers.  Everything,  in 
such  places,  was  destroyed.  More  than  the  half  of  England 
passed  into  the  hands  of  these  strangers.  Their  power,  as 
we  have  seen,  became  great  along  the  whole  coast  north  of 
the  Thames,  and  stretched  far  inland,  so  as  to  cover  a  large 
portion  of  the  great  kingdom  of  Mercia,  and  of  the  ancient 
kingdom  of  Deira, 

Subsequently  to  the  time  of  Alfred,  there  was  room  to 
hope  that  the  Danes  and  Saxons  might  gradually  amalga- 
mate, and  conjointly  prove  strong  enough  to  repel  all  fur- 
ther invasion.  But  if  such  hope  was  entertained,  it  proved 
to  be  illusive.  Invasion  only  became  more  formidable  as 
the  island  was  known  to  have  become  more  capable  of  resist- 
ance. Tlie  English'  Danes  too  often  fraternized  with  the 
invaders,  and  disorder  increased,  until  a  Danish  dynasty 
came,  for  a  while,  into  the  place  of  the  Saxon.  England 
thus  fell  into  the  hands  of  great  landowners  who  were  of 
two  races.  The  house  was  thus  divided  against  itself.  The 
restoration  of  the  Saxon  line  in  Edward  the  Confessor 
seemed  to  promise  that  oil  would  be  poured  on  these 
troubled  waters.  But  that  tendency  of  affairs  was  not  to 
last. 

Of  course,  the  converted  Danes,  after  a  time,  shared 
considerably  in  the  spirit  of  improvement.  Odo,  one  of 
their  number,  became  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  mind 
of  Canute  came  under  Christian  influences  with  much  ad- 
vantage to  himself  and  Lis  subjects.  The  counties  occu- 
pied by  the  Danes  included  a  larger  proportion  of  freemen 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  than  the  more  purely  Saxon 
districts.     But  in  a  kingdom  whose  entire  population  was 

*  Dr.  Pauli's  Life  of  A  Ifred^  chap.  vi. 


250 


SAXONS   AND  DANES. 


BOOK  II. 
Chap.  9. 


Science. 


restricted  to  between,  two  and  tliree  millions,  and  with  so 
large  a  proportion  of  the  population  in  a  condition-  more 
or  less  servile,  the  nnmber  acquiring  any  knowledge  of  let- 
ters must  have  been  small.*  Tliis  privileged  class  received 
instructions  in  the  schools  connected  with  the  diiferent 
cathedrals  and  monasteries,  or  under  the  private  tuition  of 
ecclesiastics  who  were  competent  in  such  service,  and 
disposed  so  to  employ  themselves. 

In  this  manner  the  Anglo-Saxons  acquired  the  little 
they  kiiew  of  science.  Here,  as  everywhere,  their  object 
was  not  so  much  to  discover  as  to  learn- — ^to  rescue  and 
secure  the  fragments  of  a  past  knowledge  which  seemed  to 
be  fast  floating  by  them  to  oblivion.  .Arithmetic  they 
studied  after  the  manner  of  the  ancients,  without  the  aid  of 
the  Arabic  numerals,  and  adhering  to  the  metaphysical 
distinction  of  numbers.  So  studied,  even  arithmetic  was  a 
difficult  science.  Bede  attempted  something  in  natural 
philosophy.  His  work  here  was  to  copy  the  truth  and  error 
of  those  who  had  gone  before  him.  His  great  merit  consists 
in  the  good  sense  which  disposes  him  to  attribute  natural 
phenomena  so  generally  to  natural  causes.  But  the  geog- 
raphy of  our  wonder-loving  fathers  tefemed,  not  only  with 
mistakes,  but  with  inventions  of  a  very  free  description. 
The  countries  between  Canterbury  and  Rome,  and  between 
Rome  and  Jerusalem,  came  to  be  pretty  familiar  to  them. 
Strange  sights,  however,  according  to  report,  were  to  be  seen 
in  some  of  those  distant  regions.  Tliose  who  would  travel 
far  enough  would  find  themselves  in  lands  in  which 
there  were  white  people  fifteen  feet  high,  some  with  two 
faces,  some  with  neither  face  nor  head,  their  eyes  and  mouth 
being  placed  in  their  chest ;  and  some  eight  feet  high,  with 
a  diameter  equal  to  their  altitude.  Learned  men  did  not, 
of  course,  pay  much  heed  to  these  marvellous  relations. 
Alcuin  expresses  himself  very  sensibly  concerning  physics, 


*  Palgrave^  Commonwealth  c.  i.  Mr.  Hallam  describes  the  ceorl  as  the  pre- 
cursor of  our  English  yeoman,  and  regards  the  serfs,  or  slaves  proper,  as  consist- 
in*'  mostly  of  Britons,  and  of  such  Saxons  as  became  slaves  through  becoming 
criminals. — Middle  Ages,  ii.  386  387.  Saxons  were  sometimes  thus  reduced  by 
other  causes ;  but,  taken  together,  the  serfs  at  the  Conquest  do  not  appear  to 
have  formed  more  t^an  about  one  in  eighty  of  the  population. 


CiiAP.  9. 


EEVOLUnON  IN   SOCIAL  LIFE.  251 

etliics,  and  loffic,  the  favourite  studies  of  his  time.  AVhat  book  il 
the  Homans  knew  on  these  subjects  the  more  intelligent 
Anglo-Saxons  knew  and  taught.  This  observation,  applies 
to  the  astronomy,  the  chemistry,  the  medicine,  the  surgery, 
and  the  metaphysics  of  our  ancestors.  In  all  the  Roman 
authors  were  their  preceptors,  and  they  followed  their  mas- 
ters at  various  distances.  In  religion  only  was  it  given  them 
to  be  innovators.  They  had  substituted  a  new  religion  in 
the  place  of  the  old  ;  but  even  this  had  come  to  them  from 
the  old  source.* 

In  literature,  and  in  mental  culture  of  every  description, 
the  Saxons  had  to  begin  with  the  lowest  elements.  Even 
their  teachers  were  the  ill-instructed  of  a  dark  age — while 
their  own  struggle  for  independence,  and  even  for  existence, 
was  often  such  as  to  leave  them  little  leisure  or  inclination 
for  such  pursuits.  Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  it  sliould  not 
be  deemed  surprising  if  the  signs  of  intellectual  life  among 
them  are  found  to  be  more  valuable  for  what  they  seem 
to  promise,  than  from  what  they  include.  Enough  was 
achieved  in  most  unfavourable  circumstances,  to  warrant  the 
hope  of  something  much  better  should  better  circumstances 
arise.  The  distance  is  no  doubt  great  between  a  Bede  and 
a  Gibbon,  a  Cedmon  and  a  Milton,  but  these  men  have  all 
spoken  the  same  mother-tongue,  and  belong  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  same  national  intellect. 

*  Turner's  Anglo-Saxons,  bk.  ix.  c.  Y,  8. 


CHAPTER  X. 

COI^CLIJSION. 
BOOK  II. 

Chap.  10.  yVj  ^  tiave  86611  that  tli6  settl6m6nt  of  tlie  Saxons  and 
Conclusion.  T  T  Dancs  in  Britain  was  a  settlement  by  tlie  sword.  It 
led  to  a  subjugation,  and  a  large  displacement,  of  tbe  old 
Britisli  population.  In  tbe  case  of  the  invaders,  this  change 
brought  with  it  a  change  from  a  state  in  which  the  soil  was 
not  private  property,  but  the  property  of  the  community, 
ever  passing  into  new  hands,  to  a  state  in  which  the  private 
person  comes  to  possess  his  freehold,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
learns  to  add  to  the  rearing  of  cattle,  the  tillage  of  the 
ground,  the  construction  of  a  new  order  of  buildings,  and 
the  signs  of  a  general  progress  in  industry,  learning,  science, 
and  art.  The  restless  sea-king  becomes  stationary,  as  a  great 
landholder.  His  followers  are  content  to  live  at  his  side 
as  small  landholders  and  tenants.  Property  accumulates 
from  industry.  With  the  increase  of  property,  better 
usage,  better  law,  and  a  better  administration  of  law,  make 
their  appearance.  Men  everywhere  feel  more  secure  in 
their  persons  and  possessions.  Tlie  steps  in  this  course  are 
slow  and  irregular,  but  they  are  real,  and  what  is  once 
gained  is  never  wholly  lost. 

It  is  common  to  attribute  these  happy  results  to  the 
usages  of  self-government  with  which  our  ancestors  were 
familiar.  The  tithing,  the  hundred,  and  the  county-court 
are  all  supposed  to  have  been  normal  schools,  in  which  the 
mind  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  was  trained  to  understand,  to 
appreciate,  and  to  realize  political  liberty.  But  it  should 
be  remembered  that  such  customs  were  by  no  means  pe- 
culiar to  the  Anglo-Saxons.     They  existed  substantially  in 


CONiJLUSION.  253 

all  the  nations  of  Europe  at  that  time,  either  as  a  continu-  book  ii. 

,  Tt  •  T  ClIAP.   10. 

ance  of  the  municipia  of  old  Eome,  or  as  native  to  the  new     

settlers.  They  exist  at  this  day  under  governments  which 
know  nothing  of  political  liberty.  The  "Russian  villager  has 
his  commune,  which  with  him  is  a  lesser  empire,  and  not  to 
be  resisted.  Tlie  Chinese,  also,  have  lived  for  ages  under  a 
scheme  of  local  government  much  more  elaborate  and 
scientific  than  anything  existing  in  this  country  before  the 
Conquest.  But  all  Europe  has  not  inherited  our  political 
freedom.  The  people  of  Russia  and  of  China  have  no  con- 
ception of  it. 

How  are  we  to  account  for  this  ?  The  main  reason,  we 
think,  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  those  forms  of  lo- 
cal government  have  been  purely  administrative.  They 
have  been  restricted  to  the  local  administration  of  law. 
Their  relation  to  a  central  authority  possessing  the  power 
to  make  or  to  unmake  law  has  been  purely  passive. 
It  is  possible  that  the  institutions  of  a  people  should  be  such 
as  to  cause  them  to  be  sensible  that  to  them  it  pertains,  in 
their  measure,  to  make  law,  as  well  as  to  administer  it ; 
and  it  is  then  that  they  become  truly  alive  to  the  motives 
which  dispose  men  to  political  action.  Where  the  remedies 
for  social  evils  are  expected  to  come  wholly  from  the  gov- 
ernment, the  people  are  naturally  passive.  But  it  is  other- 
wise where  the  community  is  aware  that  the  means 
of  amelioration  are  really  in  their  own  hands.  It  is 
in  this  feeling  of  the  freeman's  relation  to  the  high  court  of 
Parliament,  as  w^ell  as  to  the  courts  of  law,  that  we  have 
the  great  secret  of  English  liberty.  The  hundred  court, 
and  the  county  court,  were  good  schools,  but  their  efficiency 
would  not  have  been  great  had  they  stood  alone. 

l^oi  that  the  democratic  element  among  our  ancestors 
w^as  very  prominent,  or  very  clearly  defined.  It  was  with 
Anglo-Saxon  Britain  in  this  respect  as  it  was  with  Europe. 
It  embraced  the  germs  of  all  political  theories.  First,  there 
was  the  church,  with  her  principle  of  theocracy.  Then 
there  was  the  crown,  as  the  emblem  of  monarchy.  Next 
came  the  earl  and  the  thane,  as  representatives  of  the  aris- 
tocratic power.     IsText  the  men  of  the  hundred  com-t,  or  of 


254  SAXONS   AND   DANES. 

BOOK  II.  the  borough  court,  as  representing  the  democracy.  The 
political  history  of  England  and  of  Europe  is  not  the  his- 
tory of  any  one  of  these  principles,  but  the  history  of  them 
all ;  and  consists  especially  in  the  history  of  the  causes 
which  have  determined  the  measure  of  these  respective  in- 
fluences in  different  countries  at  different  times.  In  our 
own  history,  the  combined  influence  of  these  different  ele- 
ments has  given  us  results  greatly  more  valuable  than  could 
have  come  from  any  one  of  them  separately.  Tlie  foim 
in  which  our  Anglo-Saxon  laws  gave  protection  to  the  per- 
son and  property  of  the  freeman,  contained  the  seeds  of  all 
the  liberties  which  later  generations  have  been  so  careful 
to  deflne,  expand,  and  secure.  In  those  laws  something  is 
due  to  the  justice  of  the  sovereign,  more  to  the  jealousy  of 
the  subject.  To  study  our  constitutional  history  under  the 
Normans  and  Plantagenets,  the  Tudors  and  Stuarts,  with- 
out the  study  of  it  under  the  Anglo-Saxons,  would  be  to 
concern  ourselves  with  effects  apart  from  their  causes.  Tlie 
usages  and  institutions  of  the  men  who  fought  under  king 
Harold  at  Hastings,  were  to  become  to  this  country  what 
their  language  has  become. 

In  religion,  the  change  which  took  place  in  the  history 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons  is  not  less  observable  than  the  change 
in  their  political  and  social  life.  It  presents  a  conversion 
from  heathenism  to  Christianity.  It  is  true  the  Christianity 
embraced  was  imperfect,  and  had  its  admixtures  of  supersti- 
tion. It  was  the  Christianity  of  the  church  of  that  age, 
not  the  Christianity  of  the  sacred  writings,  nor  of  the  first 
century.  But  that  church  existed  as  a  great  moral  power, 
in  an  age,  when  force  was  almost  the  only  recognised 
power.  Brute  power  was  thus  confronted  by  a  higher  power. 
An  authority  was  introduced  which  was  above  human  author- 
ity. The  spiritual  was  declared  to  be  above  the  temporal. 
To  the  latter  men  owed  a  bodily  allegiance.  To  the  former 
they  owed  the  allegiance  of  mind.  Only  on  the  ground 
of  this  distinction  can  men  know  what  is  meant  by  liberty 
of  conscience.  The  clergy  claimed  this  spiritual  liberty  for 
themselves  and  for  their  flocks,  from  the  rude  chiefs  of 
those  days.     Unhappily,  the  <iominion  over  mind  which 


CONCLUSION.  255 

they  denied  to  the  magistrate,  they  were  only  too  eager  to  kook  il 
exercise  themselves.  JN^evertheless,  it  was  no  small  matter  — — 
to  compel  the  world  of  action  to  do  homage  in  this  manner 
to  the  world  of  thought ;  and  the  time  was  to  come  when 
the  arguments  urged  by  the  priest  against  the  magistrate 
were  to  be  urged  by  the  people  against  the  priest.  To 
learn  that  there  are  things  in  religion  that  do  not  belong  to 
Caesar  is  the  next  step  to  learning  that  there  are  things  in 
it  that  do  not  belong  to  the  priest.  On  the  whole,  the  Chris- 
tianity professed  by  the  Anglo-Saxons  was  the  Christianity 
possible  to  them  in  their  time,  just  as  the  principles  of  lib- 
erty which  they  realized  were  the  principles  possible  to 
them  in  their  circumstances.  Their  new  faith,  with  all  its 
faults,  contributed  to  soften  their  manners,  to  strengthen  their 
habits  of  industry,  to  infuse  a  more  humane  spirit  into  their 
social  relations,  to  elevate  and  discipline  their  thoughts,  and 
so  to  prepare  them  for  laying  that  social  groundwork  on 
which  their  more  favoured  descendants  have  reared  the  con- 
structions befitting  a  later  age. 


BOOK   III. 

NORMANS  A-ISTD  ENGLISH. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE   NOEMAKS   IN   NOEMANDY. 


ch^  i"'  T^HE  Normans  were  of  tlie  same  race  witli  tlie  people 
ri^hT^  variously  designated  as  Saxons  and  Angles,  Jutes  and 


Origin 
the  Nor- 


Frieslanders,  Danes  and  Northmen.  Often  in  feud  at  home, 
these  bands  of  freebooters  generally  avoided  dissension 
abroad.  We  have  seen  that  their  piratical  expeditions  date 
as  far  back  as  the  second  century  ;  and  they  are  continued 
until  the  settlement  of  the  Norman  power  in  this  country, 
nearly  nine  centuries  later.  Every  coast-land  between  the 
Baltic  and  the  northern  shores  of  Africa  felt  the  scourge  of 
their  presence,  more  or  less,  during  those  many  years. 
Charlemagne  counselled  his  successors  to  keep  a  vigilant 
guard  against  this  enemy  on  every  shore  and  river.  Louis- 
le-debonaire,  in  the  early  part  of  the  ninth  century,  acted 
on  this  precaution.  He  repelled  the  attacks  made  in  his 
time.  He  did  more,  he  persuaded  Harold,  a  Dane,  then  in 
possession  of  some  Rhenish  provinces,  to  profess  himself  a 
Christian. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  attacks  of  the  Northmen 
on  Anglo-Saxon  Britain  began  towards  the  close  of  the  eighth 
century.     In  835,  and  some  subsequent  years,  the  descents 


THE  NOKMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  257 

of  the  northern  pirates  on  the  shores  of  Gaul  and  Belgium  book  iil 
were  more  than  ever  disastrous.  In  one  Belgic  city  fifty-  — '-' 
four  churches  are  said  to  have  been  destroyed.  They  settled 
themselves  at  "Walcheren,  and  did  their  best  to  possess  them- 
selves of  island  fortresses  at  the  mouth  of  the  Seine.  Pes- 
tilence added  its  horrors  to  the  terror  inspired  by  the  Scan- 
dinavian plunderers,  and  tlie  dismay  of  the  people  filled  the 
heavens  with  portents. 

The  year  841  brings  us  to  the  first  great  invasion  of  First  inva- 
ISTeustria,  the  future  Normandy.  In  that  year  the  king  of  Nenstria. 
France  withdrew  his  ships  from  Rouen.  Tlie  I^orthmen 
squadrons,  which  were  always  ready  to  assist  each  other  on 
the  understanding  of  being  admitted  to  their  share  in  the 
common  booty,  seized  the  moment  to  take  possession  of  the 
moutli  of  the  Seine.  It  happened  that  the  tides  were  high, 
rushing  strongly  inland.  The  armament,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Oscar,  its  commander,  made  rapid  way  with  the 
stream ;  and  the  JSTorthmen  glanced  for  the  first  time  on 
the  cornfields  and  orchards,  on  wood  and  dell,  on  church 
and  monastery,  village  and  town,  on  either  side,  as  they 
shone  brightly  in  the  summer  sun,  and  rested  in  that  quiet- 
ness and  opulence  which  a  long  season  of  prosperity  had 
secured  to  them.  But  those  glances  at  the  signs  of  so  much 
wealth  were  taken  while  each  man  pulled  at  the  oar  with 
the  full  strength  of  his  IN^orwegian  arm,  and  used  the  rising 
tide  to  the  utmost. 

Rouen,  and  the  surrounding  country,  fell  into  the  hands  spoils  from 
of  the  invaders.  They  occupied  the  city  three  days.  When 
they  descended  the  river,  their  spoil,  in  treasures  of  all  de- 
scriptions, and  in  captives  of  both  sexes,  and  of  every  rank, 
was  a  novelty,  from  its  variety  and  value,  even  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  IS'orthman  successes.  Much  was  done  by  this 
enterprise  towards  preparing  the  way  for  the  dukedom  of 
Normandy. 

Four  years  later,  the  famous  Ragnar  Lodbrog,  whose  Kagnar 
name  is  so  disastrously  associated  with  our  oSvn  history,    ^   ^'^^' 
recaptured  Rouen,  and  besieged  and  took  the  city  of  Paris. 
Lodbrpg's  track  was  marked  by  the  usual  devastations.    He 
returned  to  Denmark  laden  with  wealth.    On  this  occasion, 
Vol.  I.— 17 


258  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^ch5  ?^'  *^®  crown  of  France  paid  its  first  Danegelt.  The  enemy 
was  thus  bought  off  for  a  time,  but  for  a  short  time  only. 
Oscar  was  still  roving  from  coast  to  coast  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  fleet.  Eric  the  Red,  a  chief  of  higher  authority 
than  Lodbrog  in  his  own  country,  came  abroad  with  a  great 
armament.  The  shores  of  the  Elbe,  the  Seine,  and  the 
Loire  were  all  ravaged,  now  by  one,  now  by  another. 
Rivalries,  like  those  which  divided  the  states  of  the  Hep- 
tarchy, divided  the  Continental  princes,  precluded  com- 
bined and  vigorous  resistance,  and  the  way  was  thus  left 
open  to  the  common  enemy.  In  857  Paris  was  again 
attacked.  In  861  it  was  again  taken.  By  this  time  many  of 
the  ISTorthmen  were  settled  on  the  lands  which  they  had  con- 
quered. Large  provinces  were  ceded  to  them  by  treaty.  They 
married  wives  from  the  new  country.  Ground  was  thus  laid 
for  a  gradual  change  of  habits  and  religion.  But  wide  w^as 
the  sweep  of  disturbance  which  preceded  this  comparative 
rest.  '  Take  a  map  and  cover  with  vermilion  the  prov- 
inces, districts,  and  shores  which  the  Northmen  visited,  as 
the  record  of  each  invasion.  The  colouring  will  have  to  be 
repeated  more  than  ninety  times  successively  before  you 
arrive  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty.  Eur- 
thetmore,  mark,  by  the  usual  symbol  of  war,  two  crossed 
swords,  the  localities  where  battles  wei*e  fought  by  or  against 
the  pirates ;  where  they  were  defeated  or  triumphant ;  or 
where  they  pillaged,  burned,  or  destroyed  ;  and  the  valleys 
and  banks  of  Elbe,  Rhine,  and  Moselle,  Scheldt,  Mouse, 
Somme,  and  Seine,  Loire,  Garonne,  and  Adour,  the  inland 
Allier,  and  all  the  coasts  and  coast-lands  between  estuary 
and  estuary,  and  the  countries  between  the  river  streams, 
will  appear  bristling  as  with  a  chevaux-de-frise.'  * 
fiS'duke  Such  was  the  force  of  the  stream  of  migration  which 

maSy."  had  sct  iu  when  Rollo  and  his  i^orthmen  first  entered  the 
Seine,  took  possession  of  Rouen,  and  settled  there.  Little 
credit  is  due  to  the  accounts  which  have  reached  us  con- 
cerning the  early  history  of  Rollo.  Tliree  generations,  it 
seems,  had  passed  away  since  his  decease  before  anything 
relating  to  him  was  committed  to  writing.  We  know,  how-j 
*  Palgrave's  History  of  England  and  Normandy. 


THE  NORMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  259 

ever,  that  lie  lived  through  the  reigns  of  three  French  kings,  book  hl 
and  that  he  extorted  concessions  from  them  all.     His  first'    — - 
occupation  of  Eonen  was  in  876  ;  but  it  is  not  until  911 
that  he  becomes  the  settled  and  recognised  lord  of  Nor- 
mandy. 

Rollo  died  at  an  advanced  age.  Who  should  succeed  ^^^^^  ^ 
him  was  a  question  which  he  left  professedly  in  the  hands 
of  his  ffreat  men.  But  he  recommended  his  son  to  that 
dignity.  In  this  proceeding  we  see  the  influence  of  the  vol- 
untary and  equal  terms  on  which  the  confederations  of  the 
]^orthmen  were  based.  But  the  Normans  conformed  them- 
selves to  the  customs  of  the  Franks  in  this  particular,  as 
in  almost  everything.  William  possessed  none  of  the  war- 
like tendencies  of  his  father.  The  clergy,  to  whose  care  he 
had  been  entrusted  from  his  youth,  had  trained  him  to  other 
tastes.  But,  like  many  timid  men,  he  could  be  treacherous 
and  cruel ;  and  he  was  himself  deceived  and  murdered  in 
the  ninth  year  of  his  reign.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  nat- 
ural son  Richard,  a  boy  not  ten  years  of  age.  This  changeEiciiard  i. 
brought  its  troubles.  The  Norman  power  in  France  was  for 
a  season  in  much  danger.  But  the  reign  of  Richard  ex- 
tended from  942  to  996.  In  his  policy  he  took  sides  with 
the  French  monarchy,  and  showed  himself  friendly  to  the 
church  and  to  churchmen.  So  great  was  the  influence  of  the 
clergy  on  this  grandson  of  Rollo,  that  at  his  death,  he  deem- 
ed himself  unworthy  of  burial  in  a  church,  and  desired  that 
he  might  be  laid  by  its  outside  wall,  as  near  as  it  might  be, 
but  not  within  it.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Richard, 
surnamed  the  Good. 

But  Richard  the  Second  was  also  a  youth  on  his  acces-  Eichard  ii. 
sion  :  and  this  circumstance  was  ao^am  the  occasion  oi  dis-  siv^  spirit 

^  .  of  tiie  Nor- 

turbance.  The  peasantry  of  Normandy  were  grievously  mans, 
oppressed.  They  meditated  an  insurrection.  But  the  leaders 
were  seized,  and  their  heads  and  hands  were  sent  to  be  ex- 
posed in  their  respective  villages.  Some  other  dangers  were 
also  dealt  with  successfully.  In  his  general  policy  Richard 
followed  the  steps  of  his  father.  He  also  kept  up  a  friendly 
and  prudent  relation  with  his  countrymen  the  Danes.  His 
influence  was  great.    The  balance  of  affau's  in  France  was 


260 


NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


^c?5/i"*  ^^  ^^^  hand.  His  military  successes  were  considerable. 
But  these  were  a  natural  result  of  the  amount  of  military 
passion  and  ability  at  his  disposal.  Already  the  chivalry 
of  l^ormandy  had  become  much  too  formidable  to  be  re- 
stricted to  that  province.  It  found  outlets  for  itself,  not 
only  in  every  part  of  France,  but  in  Spain,  and  in  the  south 
of  Italy.  One  of  Eichard's  vassals,  Eoger  of  Tosny,  at- 
tacked the  Moslems  of  Spain,  and  distinguished  himself  alike 
by  his  valour  and  his  cruelties.  He  is  said  to  have  made 
his  Moslem  captives  eat  the  flesh  of  their  fellow  Moslems, 
cut  up  and  boiled  like  pork.  The  enterpiwses  of  the  ISTor- 
mans  in  Italy  and  Sicily  were  more  legitimate  and  honour- 
able, l^ot  only  Sicily,  but  Apulia  and  Calabria  fell  into 
their  hands.  In  fact,  had  the  ISTormans  been  confined  to 
France  as  a  field  of  action  at  this  juncture,  France  must 
have  become  J^orman  ;  and  had  not  the  crown  of  England 
become  a  tempting  prize  some  years  later,  the  crown  of 
France  would  probably  have  been  seized  in  its  stead. 

Richard  III.        The  iust  and  beneficent  reisrn  of  Richard  II.  came  to  a 

Kobertthe       ^  .^  ,         .  ,     t  ,  .  tt 

Devil.  close  m  1026,  havmg  extended  to  thirty  years.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  of  the  same  name.  But  Eichard 
HI.  was  poisoned  in  the  second  year  of  his  reign — poisoned, 
it  is  believed,  through  the  influence  of  his  younger  brother 
Eobert,  who  is  known  in  history  as  his  successor  under  the 
name  of  Eobert  the  Devil.  Eobert  was  assailed  on  his 
accession  from  several  quarters,  but  he  succeeded  in  consol- 
idating his  power.  And  now  this  man  of  violent  passions 
and  dark  deeds,  resolved,  as  many  like  him  in  those  ages 
had  done,  to  become  a  religious  devotee,  and  to  perform  a 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  On  his  way  home  the  fate  befel 
him  which  had  befallen  his  brother  Eichard— he  was  poi- 
soned. This  event  paved  the  way  for  the  accession  of  his 
illegitimate  son  William,  who  became  William  II.  of  IS'or- 
mandy,  and  William  the  Conqueror  of  England. 
William  IT.  The  early  years  of  William,  like  those  of  all  his  prede- 
^eio?""  cessors,  were  years  of  inquietude  and  danger.  His  uncle,  by 
his  mother's  side,  saved  him  more  than  once  from  the  mach- 
inations of  his  enemies,  by  removing  him  from  his  chamber 
under  the  cover  of  the  night  to  some  humble  dwelling  near  it. 


THE  N0EMAN8  IN  NORMANDY.  261 

In  one  instance  the  weapon  designed  for  himself  destroyed  book  iil 

one  of  his  household  who  happened  to  be  in  his  apartment.  -- — '- ' 
But  William  survived,  and  lived  to  subdue  one  enemy  after 
another,  until  his  power  became  more  formidable  than  that 
of  any  man  who  had  borne  his  title.  His  extraordinary 
capacity  and  energy  contributed  in  part  to  this  result. 
But  other  qualities  had  their  share  in  producing  it.  Wil- 
liam could  deceive,  could  lie,  could  be  pitiless,  and  could 
use  the  poisoned  cup  to  remove  impediments  from  the  path 
of  his  ambition.  Few  men  with  the  bad  tendencies  of  human 
nature  in  such  force  have  risen  to  such  greatness.  N'o  man 
loved  him.  'No  man  hoped  for  any  thing  from  his  virtue. 
His  seeming  good  was  never  good,  it  was  always  something 
meted  out  by  personal  considerations.  Robert  the  Devil  was 
his  father  :  but  he  lacked  some  of  the  virtues  even  of  such  a 
sire,  for  Bobert  was  at  times  genial,  mirthful,  and  had  a 
great  contempt  for  money-getting,  while  his  son  William 
was  reserved,  gloomy,  and  hardly  more  remarkable  for  his 
ambition  than  for  his  covetousness.* 

It  is  now  expedient  that  we  should  look  a  little  more  society  in 
closely  into  the  state  of  society  in  ]^ormandy,  seeing  that 
the  good  or  bad  of  that  society  is  about  to  become  so  much 
our  own. 

One  remarkable  feature  in  the  history  of  the  ]S"ort]mien  Great  re vo 

•^  lution  in 

in  IN^ormandy  consisted  in  the  readiness  with  which  they  manners. 
threw  off  almost  everything  that  had  been  characteristic  of 
them  down  to  the  time  of  their  settlement  in  that  country. 
They  retained  their  warlike  habits,  their  pride,  and  their 
love  of  independence  and  adventure.     But  they  adhered  no  ' 

longer  to  their  Scandinavian  customs  ;  they  soon  ceased  to 
speak  their  mother-tongue  ;  they  adopted  the  religion  of  the 
Franks,  and  with  it  their  modes  of  legislation  and  of  judica- 
ture, and  their  general  usage.  Some  of  these  changes  came 
more  suddenly  than  others,  but  all  came  about,  more  or  less, 
within  a  few  generations. 

We  have  no  evidence  that  the  N^ormans  retained  any 
vestige  of  the  poetry  which  had  exerted  so  much  influence 

*  See  his  character  by  a  writer  in  the  Saxon  Chronicle  (a,  d.  1087)  who  had 
lived  at  his  court,  and  evidently  does  not  mean  to  do  wrong  to  his  memory. 


262  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^Ch5  \"'  ^^  some  of  the  northern  nations.     So  soon  did  thej  lose 

their  native  language,  that  they  have  not  given  us  a  single 

line  in  it,  etiher  in  manuscript  or  in  monument.  What 
they  were  in  the  homes  from  which  they  came,  and  what 
prompted  them  to  migrate  from  those  homes,  cannot  be 
learnt  from  any  memorials  of  their  own.  They  could  ap- 
preciate the  more  advanced  civilization  of  their  neighbors. 
They  were  a  minority  in  the  midst  of  a  majority  who  spoke 
a  superior  language.  They  married  wives  in  the  new  coun- 
try who  knew  nothing  of  the  speech  of  their  husbands, 
nothing  of  the  customs  that  had  been  familiar  to  them  ;  and 
the  mothers  trained  their  children  to  their  own  ways  and 
preferences.  "When  the  Christian  clergy  came  to  have  some 
influence,  that  weight  was  thrown  into  the  same  scale. 
ofc&^  One  of  the  earliest  and  most  conspicuous  of  these  changes 

tianity—      ^^s  tlic  adoptiou  of  Christianity.     But  in  this  event  we  see 

VICIOUS  lives  -«-  »' 

cie?-y  ^-^^  impress  of  the  N'orman  nationality.  Among  the  Scan- 
dinavian nations  the  power  of  the  priesthood  is  not  great. 
Few  men  of  that  order  would  appear  to  have  accompanied 
the  migratory  bands  who  sought  a  home  southward.  Wlien 
the  I^ormans  professed  themselves  Christians,  quite  a  cen- 
tury passed  before  the  clergy  w^ere  allowed  to  assemble  in 
synod  or  council — a  course  of  things  singularly  diiferent 
from  what  had  taken  place  among  the  Anglo-Saxons. 
Among  the  latter,  an  exemption  of  delinquent  priests  from 
all  responsibility  to  the  secular  magistrate  was  soon  claimed 
and  secured."^  But  the  order  were  not  soon  to  be  so  privileged 
in  IsTormandy.  The  morals  of  the  clergy,  hoAvever,  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  improved  by  this  course  of  proceeding 
towards  them.  It  was  notorious  that  priests  in  general 
kept  their  women  ;  that  prelates  took  money  as  the  price  of 
tolerating  the  disorder  ;  and  that  the  manners  of  those  dig- 
nitaries were  often  most  dissolute.  Attempts  to  remove 
these  scandals  called  forth  riots  in  the  streets,  and  even  in  the 
churches.  With  such  things  as  possible  among  the  clergy,  we 
cannot  expect  much  of  the  conduct  proper  to  the  Christian 
profession  among  the  laity.  So  late  as  the  first  year  in  the 
eleventh  century,  some  fifty  years  only  before  the  Conquest, 

*  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutions,  72,  74,  82,  147,  148,  155,  177,  305. 


THE  NORMANS  IN  NOEMANDT.  263 

a  French  ecclesiastic,  on  being  invited  by  the  duke  of  Nor-  ^2u^  "^ 

mandy  to  reform  a  corrupt  monastery  at  Fecamp,  refused,     

alleging  as  his  reason  that  he  knew  the  Normans  to  be 
rough  and  barbarous  in  their  manners,  and  more  inclined  to 
destroy  Christian  edifices  than  to  rear  them. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  next  half  century  pro-  Norman  ar- 

"^    -■■  chitecturo- 

duced  considerable  change  in  these  respects.  Norman  archi- 
tecture, both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  made  extraordinary  ad- 
vances. It  is  from  this  period  that  we  must  date  what  is 
now  known  as  the  Norman  style,  both  in  church  and  castle. 
Edifices  of  both  descriptions  are  multiplied  in  all  directions. 

Contemporary  with  the  origin  of  Norman  architecture  Learning, 
is  the  rise  of  Norman  learning.  The  earliest  names  in  the 
history  of  literature  in  Normandy,  such  as  Dudo  of  St. 
Quentin,  William  of  Jumieges,  William  of  Poitiers,  Lan- 
franc,  and  Anselm,  come  late,  and  they  are  the  names  of 
Italians  and  Frenchmen,  not  Norman  names.  But  in  the 
eleventh  century  Norman  ladies  began  to  read  the  ballad 
poetry  of  the  time  ;  and  the  Norman  noble  might  be  seen 
listening  to  the  extravagant  praise  of  himself  or  of  his  ances- 
tors, from  the  lips  of  minstrels  who  seem  to  have  been  half- 
poets,  half-jugglers.  The  abbey  of  Bee,  over  which  Lanfranc 
and  Anselm  presided  in  succession  became  famous  as  a  place  of 
learning.  The  abbeys  of  St.  Evroult,  Jumieges,  and  Wand- 
ville  had  also  their  measure  of  celebrity  on  that  ground. 
But  the  court  of  the  first  dukes,  says  a  competent  authority,  Defective 
'  though  not  exactly  wanting  in  splendour,  was,  neverthe-  of^tto  ^°° 
less,  by  no  means  a  school  of  what,  even  at  that  time,  was  "^°^"^ 
regarded  as  refinement.  One  of  the  pretexts  used  by  Louis 
d'Outremer  for  taking  the  young  duke  Eichard  to  his  court 
was,  that  he  might  there  receive  a  better  education.  "Women 
appear  to  have  had  no  influence  at  the  court  of  Eouen. 
The  dukes  were  in  a  great  measure  ruled  by  the  clergy ; 
instead  of  wives,  they  had  concubines.  Not  until  the  Con- 
quest did  the  ideas  of  the  Normans  begin  to  expand  them- 
selves :  their  intercourse  with  other  nations  made  them 
acquainted  with  new  branches  of  knowledge,  and  contrib- 
uted to  commerce  and  industry.'  * 

*  Benjamin  Thorp,  in  Lappenberg's  England  under  the  Norman  Kings,  ^1- 


264  NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^ch5."^'        ^^  regard  to  the  '  commerce  and  industry  '  of  the  'Nor- 

mans  there  is  little  to  be  said.     Commerce  with  distant 

nations  did  not  occupy  their  thoughts.  Their  trade  consisted 
almost  wholly  of  such  internal  traffic  as  belongs  naturally  to 
all  civilized  communities.  As  conquerors  they  availed  them- 
selves of  the  productiveness  of  the  land,  and  of  the  labour 
and  skill  which  had  wont  to  be  bestowed  upon  it.  The  hus- 
bandman produced  grain  of  the  usual  descriptions.  Fruit 
appears  to  have  been  abundant.  Fish  were  salted,  and  laid 
up  for  use.  It  has  been  made  a  reproach  to  our  Saxon 
ancestors,  that  they  fed  so  much  on  pork,  and  repaired  so 
often  to  the  beer  barrel.  But  these  coarse  tastes,  if  such 
they  were,  appear  to  have  been  as  common  to  the  subjects 
of  duke  William  as  to  those  of  king  Harold.  By  the 
French  tlie  ^N^ormans  were  nicknamed  the  heer-drinlcers  y 
that  beverage  being  so  much  more  palatable  to  their  true 
Scandinavian  taste  than  wine,  even  when  they  had  the  means 
of  substituting  the  one  for  the  other.  Tlie  forests  of  N^or- 
mandy,  like  those  of  England,  could  hardly  fail  to  make  the 
vocation  of  the  swineherd  very  common.  Old  JSTorman 
charters  speak  of  forest  range  for  such  animals  as  a  great 
privilege  ;  and  make  little  mention  of  cattle. 

The  condition  of  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  in  [N^ormandy 
was  one  of  sad  depression.  They  were  bound  to  the  land  on 
which  they  were  born,  and  passed  with  it,  from  hand  to 
hand,  like  any  other  portion  of  its  stock.  Their  lord  com- 
manded their  services  at  pleasure,  either  to  till  his  ground, 
or  to  fight  his  battles.  Time  somewhat  softened  the  rigours 
of  this  service,  but  the  burden  continued  to  be  one  hard  to 
bear. 

81.  The  following  is  Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  description  of  a  French  camp  so  early 
as  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century :  '  The  French  encampment  might  be  seen 
spreading  and  stretching  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Drive.  In  the  rear  was 
a  fine  and  fertile  mixture  of  hill  and  plain — magnificent  was  the  spectacle  exhib- 
ited, the  tents  and  pavilions,  their  stuff' fresh  from  the  loom,  unfrayed  by  use,  un- 
dimmed  by  rain,  their  bright  colours  unfaded  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  in  whose 
light  they  were  for  the  first  time  shining.  Amidst  these  thousand  tents,  snow- 
white  and  azure  and  scarlet,  the  golden  pavilion  of  Louis,  emulating  Oriental 
splendour,  arose  conspicuous,  surmounted  by  the  radiant  eagle,  the  heir-loom  of 
Charlemagne's  empire.  Never  had  there  been  seen  a  more  unsparing  display  of 
noble  armour,  spirited  horses,  and  a  more  brilliant  and  imposing  array.' — Hist. 
Normandy^  ii.  480.  Such  was  the  school  to  which  the  Normans  were  sent ;  and 
they  learnt  their  lesson,  but  not  so  soon,  nor  to  the  end  so  perfectly,  as  some 
have  supposed. 


Serfs  and 
peasants. 


THE  NOKMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  265 

Whatever  the  legislation  of  the  Normans  may  have  been  ^^^fv  T' 
before  the  settlement  in  IS'ormandy,  their  laws,  as  known  i^-oj^;;;^ 
to  us,  are  little  distinguishable  from  those  which  obtained  ^nd^^lVJin 
in  France  generally.     Prominence  was  given  to  trial  by  ™^°^ 
ordeal,  still  more  to  trial  by  battle.     In  the  feudal  relations 
that  subsisted,  men  held  their  lands  so  immediately  from  the 
duke,  that  no  lord  could  seize  them  without  trespass  against 
the  crown,  as  well  as  against  the  subject.    Before  his  death, 
the  Conqueror,  as  we  shall  see,  assimilated  the  holdings  of 
land  in  this  country  to  this  N^orman  usage.    iRor  is  this  the 
only  particular  in  which,  for  better  or  worse,  the  laws -of 
the  one  have  become  mixed  with  those  of  the  other.     The 
Great  Council,  the  courts  which  have  grown  out  of  it,  per- 
manent judges,  and  even  trial  by  jury,  all  have  their  relations 
to  Anglo-N^orman  thought,  as  well  as  to  the  ancient  institu- 
tions of  this  country. 

The  notion  that  the  chivalry  of  Europe  owes  its  origin  ^hifSryf 
to  the  N'ormans,  is  a  wide  conclusion  deduced  from  narrow 
premises.  Chivalrous  no  doubt  they  were,  and  in  as  high 
a  degree  perhaps  as  any  race  south  of  the  Pyrenees.  But 
the  Romance  of  Antcur  shows  that  the  form  of  culture  we 
denote  by  that  term  was  highly  developed  in  the  East  long 
before  it  became  observable  in  the  West.  Tlie  haughty 
Spaniard  learnt  it  from  his  no  less  haughty  antagonist  the 
Moslem  ;  and  the  Christian  princes  who  resolved  to  possess 
themselves  of  Palestine,  found  the  model  of  their  unselfish 
devotion  in  the  men  who  were  no  less  resolved  to  dispute 
their  pretensions  on  that  point.  We  should  not  have  had  a 
Pichard  had  there  not  been  a  Saladin.  Chivalry  comes 
from  noble  instincts  common  to  humanity.  The  germs  of 
it  may  be  found  widely  scattered,  and  even  among  the 
rudest.  Circumstances  give  it  form  and  prominence.  The 
Christian  element  in  European  chivalry  has  made  it  to  be  a 
chivalry  of  its  own  order. 

Such,  then,  were  the  IsTormans  in  IS'ormandy.    They  bore  character 
no  good-will  to  the  French,  though  they  were  obliged  to  maus. " 
learn  from  them.     Wace,  the  ISTorman  poet,  makes  the  Con- 
queror describe  them  as  proud,  litigious,  and  hard  to  gov- 
ern ;  and  another  authority,  who  had  studied  their  charac- 


266 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK 
Chap, 


^  III.  ter  in  Sicily,  gives  us  their  good  and  evil,  by  describing  thera 

as  '  crafty,  vindictive,  domineering,  eager  to    leave  their 

country  for  the  sake  of  greater  gain  abroad,  dissembling, 
neither  prodigal  nor  avaricious,  devoted  to  the  study  of  elo- 
quence, lovers  of  the  chase,  hawking,  horses,  arms,  and 
beautiful  attire ;  in  short,  a  people  that  must  be  held  in 
check  by  the  laws.'''^ 
ferlUg""  All  our  histories  relate  how  the  IS"orman  education  of 

Jm  wii-      Edward  the  Confessor  disposed  him,  when  he  became  king  of 
^^'  England,  to  bestow^  his  favours  upon  ISTormans  ;  how  "Wil- 

liam, duke  of  ITormandy,  visited  his  cousin  Edward,  in- 
spected his  dominions,  and  returned  laden  with  presents ; 
how,  on  the  visit  of  Harold,  son  of  the  great  earl  Godwin, 
to  ISTormandy,  the  duke  declared  that  Edward  had  named 
him  his  successor  to  the  English  throne  ;  and  how  he  bound 
the  Saxon  by  oath  to  favour  his  accession  to  that  dignity. 
But  there  is  an  air  of  the  improbable  about  this  story.  It 
should  be  remembered,  that  it  was  with  the  character  of 
Harold  after  the  Conquest,  very  much  as  it  has  been  with 
the  character  of  Cromwell  since  the  Kestoration.  The 
reputation  of  both  passed  into  hands  that  w^ould  be  sure  to 
heap  almost  every  kind  of  wrong  upon  it. 

Concerning  this  alleged  promise  of  the  Confessor,  it  is 
to  be  observed  that  Edward  must  have  known  that,  in  the 
absence  of  a  direct  heir,  or  even  in  the  presence  of  one,  it 
did  not  rest  with  him  to  name  his  successor.  Tlie  decision 
of  that  question,  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
rested  entirely  with  the  "Witanagemote,  who  always  elected 
the  next  of  kin  when  eligible,  but  who  never  scruj^led 
to  depart  from  that  course  when  some  good  reason  seemed 
to  require  it.  In  the  next  place,  there  is  evidence  that  Ed- 
ward, in  accordance  with  this  usage,  made  an  effort  to  se- 
cure the  succession  to  his  nearest  kinsman,  Edward,  the  son 
of  Edmund  Ironside,  and  afterwards  to  the  young  Edgar, 
the  grandson  of  that  prince.f      It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind 

*  Malaterra,  cited  in  Thorp's  translation  of  Lappenberg's  England  under  the 
Norman  Kings. 

\  Chron.  Sax.  ad  an.  1064,  1065.  Flpr.  Wigorn,  ad  an.  1054.  Wendover, 
under  the  year  1057,  says :  *  Eadward,  king  of  England,  being  adviineed  in 
years,  sent  Aldred,  bishop  of  Worcester,  into  Hungary,  and  recalled  thence 
Edward,  son  of  king  Edmund  his  brother,  with  the  intention  of  making  him 
his  successor.' 


THR  NORMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  267 

also,  that  tlie  three  earls  named  by  William  as  having  been  book  hi 
present  when  the  king  of  England  is  said  to  have  made  this  — '-' 
promise,  were  all  persons  who  were  no  longer  living.  Fur- 
thermore, the  Ango-S axons  knew  nothing  of  this  transac- 
tion, not  even  of  Harold's  visit  to  E'ormandy.  The  whole 
story  rests  on  the  authority  of  the  Anglo-Norman  writers, 
and  these  are  all  more  or  less  inconsistent  with  each  other 
in  regard  to  time  and  circumstances.  It  is  true,  this 
alleged  piece  of  history  is  presented  at  large  on  the  famous 
Bayeux  tapestry.  But  that  tapestry  is  simply  a  putting  of 
the  story  of  the  above  writers  into  needlework.  It  may  be  an 
authority  about  the  armour  or  the  costume  of  those  times — 
it  is  no  authority  in  relation  to  history.  It  is  probable 
that,  for  some  one  of  the  various  purposes  assigned,  Harold 
may  have  visited  I^ormandy,  and  equally  probable,  we 
think,  that  the  other  circumstances  are  merely  convenient 
fictions  grafted  on  that  fact.  The  Godwin  family  were  long 
the  great  antagonists  of  [N'orman  influence  in  this  country, 
and  the  penalty  of  pursuing  that  course,  whether  resulting 
from  patriotism  or  from  ambition,  has  come  heavily  upon 
their  memory. 

Edward,  the  son  of  Edmund  Ironside,  died  soon  after  Death  of  the 
his  landing;  in  England.     His  son  Ede^ar,  at  the  time  of  the  piansof 

^  .r,  IT-...  1  .     William. 

Conquest,  was  still  a  youth,  im  ordmary  circumstances  his 
claims  would  probably  have  been  postponed  in  favour  of 
some  older  and  more  efiicient  member  of  the  royal  family. 
Edward  on  his  death-bed  had  commended  Harold  as  his  suc- 
cessor ;  and  the  men  who  afterwards  declared  him  king,  did 
so  no  doubt  from  the  conviction  that  his  leadership  gave  them 
their  only  chance  of  saving  the  country.  The  duke  of  ]^or- 
mandy  was  in  the  park  near  Kouen,  attended  by  knights, 
and  squires,  and  pages — had  strung  his  bow,  and  was  about 
to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  when  a  messenger  ar- 
rived, who  drew  him  aside,  and  informed  him  that  the  king 
of  England  was  no  more,  and  that  all  the  great  men  at  his 
funeral  had  united  in  proclaiming  Harold  his  successor. 
The  duke  changed  countenance,  became  deeply  agitated, 
loosened  and  fastened  his  mantle,  and  without  uttering  a 
word,  or  any  one  venturing  to  speak  to  him,  he  hastened  to  a 


268 


NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  1. 


Confidence 
of  Harold. 


Landing  at 
Pevenscy. 


boat  and  crossed  the  Seine.  On  entering  the  hall  of  his 
palace,  he  threw  himself  on  a  bench,  drew  his  mantle  over 
his  face,  and  rested  his  head  for  support.  This  paroxysm 
over,  he  informed  his  attendants  of  what  had  happened,  and 
soon  convened  a  large  parliament  of  his  nobles,  who,  after 
not  a  few  expressions  of  misgiving,  agreed  to  become  his 
confederates  in  his  proposed  invasion  of  England.  The  feel- 
ing of  the  majority  was,  that  success  in  England  was  by  no 
means  certain,  and  that,  if  realized,  it  must  be  fatal  to  E"or- 
mandy.  The  duke,  however,  overcame  this  difficulty.  The 
contributions  to  be  made  by  each  to  the  great  armament 
were  fixed,  and  it  is  important  to  observe,  that  the  joint 
nature  of  the  enterprise,  of  course  implied  that  there  should 
be  a  joint  distribution  both  of  spoil  and  of  power.  Profuse 
were  the  promises  of  this  nature  then  made.* 

William  did  not  obtain  much  assistance  beyond  his  own 
territories.  But  the  pope  sent  him  a  consecrated  banner 
and  his  blessing.  Harold,  though  he  had  founded  an  abbey, 
had  nothing  monastic  in  his  nature.  He  was  not  formed  to 
bp  a  favourite  with  the  clergy.  If  he  knew  any  thing  of  the 
injurious  representations  made  concerning  him  in  Eome,  he 
did  nothing  to  refute  them.  He  relied  on  his  own  strong 
Englishmen,  and  believed  that  by  their  aid  he  might  safely 
defy  the  Normans.  This  confidence  arose  in  part  from  the 
numbers  that  flocked  to  his  standard ;  still  more  from  the 
reports  concerning  the  numbers  of  the  enemy  which  had 
been  sent  him  by  his  treacherous  correspondent  Count 
Baldwin  of  Flanders. 

On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  September,  1066, 
a  strange  vessel  was  seen  approaching  the  Sussex  coast  near 
Hastings.  It  anchored  not  far  from  the  shore.  Soon  three 
or  four  other  vessels  came  in  sight  from  the  same  point.  In 
a  few  hours,  the  number  of  sails  multiplied,  until  the  surface 
of  the  sea  seemed  covered  as  with  a  forest.  In  that  first 
vessel  was  the  duke  of  Normandy — in  the  rest  were  some 
50,000  men-at-arms,  exclusive  of  a  large  body  of  infantry.* 


*  Roman  de  Bou,  v.  10983   et  seq. 
Anglo-Saxon  Kings^  ii.  282-28Y. 
f  Ordericus,  lib.  iii.  c.  14. 


Lappcnbcrg's  England  under  tJce 


THE  NOEMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  269 

The  wliole  fleet  swept  along  the  coast  in  sight  of  old  Beachy  book  iii 

Head,  and  in  the  inlet  to  the  north  of  it,  now  known  as     

Pevensey  Bay,  the  invaders  disembarked. 

More  than  ten  centuries  had  passed  since  a  similar  arma-  Military 
ment  was  seen  approaching  this  island  under  the  command  Kn-iish 
of  Caesar ;  and  more  than  six  centuries  since  the  keels  of 
Hengist  the  sea-king  landed  their  complement  of  fighting 
men  on  the  coast  of  Kent.     So  the  great  epochs  of  Eevolu- 
tion  by  the  Sword  have  been  marked  in  our  history. 

Harold,  as  one  of  his  misfortunes,  had  to  face  two  pow-  Thesnm- 
erful  armies,  in  distant  parts  of  the  kingdom,  almost  at  the 
same  time.  Rumours  concerning  the  intentions  and  prepa- 
rations of  the  duke  of  Normandy  soon  reached  England. 
During  the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  Harold,  at  the 
head  of  a  large  naval  and  military  force,  had  been  on 
the  watch  along  the  English  coast.  But  months  passed 
away,  and  no  enemy  became  visible.  William,  it  was  said, 
had  become  aware  of  the  measures  which  had  been  taken  to 
meet  him.  It  was  believed  by  many  that  his  followers  had 
become  distrustful  and  divided.  Many  supposed  that,  on 
various  grounds,  the  enterprise  had  been  abandoned.  Pro- 
visions also,  for  so  great  an  army,  became  scarce.  Tlie  men 
began  to  disperse  ;  and  Harold,  disbanding  the  remainder, 
returned  to  London.* 

But  the  news  now  came  that  Harald  Hardrada,  king  of  invasion 
Norway,  had  landed  in  the  north,  and  was  rava^ino^  the  Tostigand 
country  m  conjunction  with  iostig,  Harold  s  elder  brother. 
This  event  came  from  one  of  those  domestic  feuds  which 
did  so  much  at  this  juncture  to  weaken  the  power  of  the 
English. 

Tostig  had  exercised  his  authority  in  Northumbria  in  Feuds  bc- 
the  most  arbitrary  manner,  and  had  perpetrated  atrocious  ^e&t^ 
crimes  in  furtherance  of  his  objects.     Tlie  result  was  an  sa^^on fa- 
amount  of  disaffection  which  seems  to  have  put  it  out  of  Tostigr 
the  power  of  his  friends  to  sustain  him.     He  had  married 
a  daugther  of  Baldwin,  count  of  Flanders,  and    so  was 
brother-in-law  to  the  duke   of  Normandy.     His    brother 
Harold,  as  he  affirmed,  had  not  done  a  brother's  part  to- 

*  Chron.  Sax.  1066.     Fl.  Wigorn. 


270 


NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


^cSi.T*  w^i'cls  liim,  and  lie  was  more  disposed,  in  consequence,  to 
side  with  the  ITorman  than  with  the  Saxon  in  the  approach- 
ing struggle.  The  army  with  which  he  now  appeared,  con- 
sisted mostly  of  I^Torwegians  and  Flemings,  and  their 
avowed  object  was  to  divide  not  less  than  half  the  kingdom 
beween  them.  Mercia,  as  thus  menaced,  naturally  took 
part  with  the  men  of  Wessex.  But  in  Mercia  also  there 
was  disaffection  and  distrust.  Harold  had  come  into  severe 
collision  with  Leofric,  the  powerful  earl  of  that  province ; 
and  subsequently  with  his  successor,  the  great  Alfgar.  It 
is  true,  both  those  great  men  were  now  dead,  and  Harold 
had  married  Eadgyth,  a  daughter  of  Alfgar.  But  the 
marriage  could  hardly  have  been  a  happy  one.  Eadgyth 
was  a  woman  of  great  ambition,  and  unscrupulous  in  her 
use  of  means  to  gratify  her  passions.  Her  brothers,  the 
young  earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  appear  to  have  been  esti- 
mable men,  and  were  much  beloved.  But  there  is  room  to 
think  that,  being  themselves  of  the  family  of  Leofric,  they 
were  not  altogether  pleased  in  seeing  a  member  of  the  rival 
family  of  Godwin  on  the  throne.  They  summoned  their 
forces,  however,  to  repel  the  invasion  under  Tostig.  Before 
Harold  could  reach  the  north,  they  hazarded  an  engagement 
at  a  place  named  Fulford  on  the  Ouse,  not  far  from  Bish- 
opstoke.  But  their  measures  were  not  wisely  taken.  They 
were  defeated  with  great  loss.* 

The  invaders  seem  to  have  regarded  this  victory  as  decid- 
ing the  fate  of  that  part  of  the  kingdom.  They  obtained  hos- 
tages at  York,  and  then  moved  to  Stamford  Bridge,  where 
they  began  the  work  of  dividing  the  northern  parts  of  Eng- 
land between  them.  But  in  the  midst  of  these  proceedings 
clouds  of  dust  were  seen  in  the  distance.  The  first  thought 
was,  that  the  multitude  which  seemed  to  be  approaching 
must  be  friends.  But  the  illusion  was  soon  at  an  end.  The 
dust  raised  was  by  the  march  of  an  army  of  West-Saxons 
under  the  command  of  Harold.  Tlie  Norwegians,  in  their  false 
confidence,  had  not  kept  well  together.  Tostig,  who  knew 
what  was  to  be  expected  from  an  army  of  Wessex  men 
under  such  leadershij^,  advised  a  retreat.     But  the  Norwe- 

*  Sim.  Dunelm.    H.  Hunt.     Marian.  Scot.     Fl.  "Wigorn.    Sax.  Chron. 


Defeat  of 
Edwin  and 
Morcar  at 
Fulford. 


Battle  of 
Stamford 
Bridge. 


THE  NORMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  271 

gian  kinff  was  a  man  of  renown  in  liis  own  land.     It  was  book  hi. 

•  •  Chap.  1. 

not  for  him  to  take  a  course  that  would  look  so  much  like     

cowardice.     An  engagement  was  accordingly  inevitable.       f^'l'f^^®* 

Tostig  and  his  Flemings  were  marshalled  apart.  Pres-  ^'^'[^  *°^ 
dhtly,  a  body  of  twenty  horsemen,  completely  cased  in 
armour,  appoached  this  division,  and  one  of  their  number 
called  for  a  man  who  should  take  a  message  from  Harold  to 
his  brother  Tostig.  Tlie  man  so  addressed,  answered  '1 
am  Tostig.'  '  Then,'  said  the  other,  '  King  Harold  sends  to 
thee  his  good- will,  and  this  message — ^he  tends  to  thee  peace, 
and  all  Northumbria  ;  yea,  he  will  not  grudge  a  third  of  his 
kingdom  to  have  thee  as  his  faithful  friend.' — '  Why  has 
not  this  come  before  ?  much  blood  has  now  been  spilt,'  said 
Tostig.  '  But  what  of  Hardrada  the  N'orwegian,  what  recom- 
pence  for  him  ? ' — '  Seven  feet  of  England's  earth,'  was  the 
reply,  '  and  as  much  more  as  his  length  is  beyond  that  of 
other  men,'  said  the  Saxon.  '  Then  go  to  thy  master,'  was 
the  answer,  '  and  tell  him  to  prepare  for  battle,  for  I^orwe- 
gian  men  shall  never  say  that  Tostig  played  false  to  their 
king  in  the  land  of  his  enemies.'  These  words  seem  to  say 
that  Tostig,  hard  man,  and  man  of  blood  that  he  was,  had 
some  good  thing  in  him.  Hardrada  had  observed  from  a 
distance  the  high  bearing  of  the  horseman  from  the  Saxon 
ranks,  and  was  not  the  more  assured  of  success  in  the  ap- 
proaching struggle  on  being  told  that  it  was  Harold  himself. 
For  just  before,  the  northern  chief,  conspicuous  from  his 
costume,  and  a  man  whose  high  stature  raised  him  above 
all  men  near  him,  had  not  kept  his  seat,  as  it  was  manifest 
Harold  could.  Through  a  false  step  of  his  horse,  he  had 
been  thrown  to  the  ground.  Harold  saw  the  accident,  and 
when  told  that  the  chief  who  had  fallen  was  his  great  rival 
Hardrada  of  Norway,  he  turned  to  his  followers,  and  said, 
'  a  most  stately  person,  truly  ;  but,  you  see,  my  friends,  his 
luck  is  already  gone  from  him.'  And  now  the  work  of 
death  began. 

The  jN"orwegian  infantry  were  formed  into  a  hollow  circle.  Battle  of 
Tlieir  shields  were  linked  together,  so  as  to  present  a  tortoise  Bri^^^ 
line  of  defence.     Their  spears  were  planted  in  the  ground 
before  them,  and  pointed  breast-high  towards  the  enemy,  to 


272  NOEMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 

^ci?5/""  check  the  onset  of  cavalry.  The  light  archers  were  so 
placed  as  to  gall  the  foe  wherever  the  pressure  should  be- 
come most  dangerous.  So  long  as  the  IS'orthmen  preserved 
their  solid  line,  and  kept  their  spears  in  position,  neither 
infantry  nor  cavalry  made  much  impression  on  them.  The 
Saxons  seemed  to  groAV  weary  in  their  repeated  attacks 
without  result.  Whereupon  the  !N^orwegians  grew  more 
bold.  Men  liere  and  there  began  to  rush  forward  from  the 
ranks.  This  brought  on  the  crisis.  The  Saxons  seized  the 
favorable  moment,  broke  the  line  of  the  enemy,  and  sent 
disorder  and  death  wherever  they  came.  In  vain  did  the 
strong  arm  of  ITardrada  deal  destruction  on  many  a  foeman. 
His  followei's  were  losing  ground,  when  an  arrow  entered 
his  neck,  and  he  fell  to  the  earth  to  expire.  Yictory  now 
seemed  to  declare  for  the  Saxon.  But  suddenly  a  large 
body  of  I^orwegians,  who  had  been  hastening  to  the 
field  from  a  distance,  made  their  appearance.  Harold  and 
his  men  had  now  to  begin  their  work  anew.  But  they 
were  still  strong  in  hand  and  heart.  Tostig  refused  all  terms. 
He  fell,  as  Hardrada  had  fallen,  doing  all  that  valour  could 
do  to  turn  the  tide  of  the  conflict  against  his  assailants.  One 
strong  Norwegian  kept  the  narrow  pass  of  the  bridge  over 
the  Derwent  against  all  comers,  killing,  it  is  said,  some  forty 
assailants  with  his  own  hand.  He  was  only  vanquished 
when  his  enemies  contrived  to  assail  him  in  front  and  rear. 
So  ended  one  of  the  most  stubborn  and  destructive  battles 
in  English  history.  The  victory  of  the  Wessex  men  was 
complete.* 

Men  of  after  generations  saw  the  bones  of  the  slain 
bleaching  on  the  surface  of  that  field.  But  no  trace  of  the 
past  is  now  to  be  seen  there.  The  green  meadow-slopes 
drop  gently  and  gracefully,  from  opposite  lines,  towards 
the  waters  of  the  Derwent.  Tlie  barge  floats  safely  along  in 
the  course  of  a  canal  not  far  from  the  river-side.  Tlie  quiet 
village  street,  and  scattered  village  homes,  may  now  be  seen 
there  on  either  hand.  The  bridge  where  the  strong  N'orwe- 
gian  kept  his  own  so  long,  has  been  displaced  by  one  on 

*  Chron.  Sax.     Fl.  Wigorn.     Marian.  Scot.     Ordericus.      Adam.  Brem. 
lib.  i.     R.  Higden.     Snorre,  cc.  86-93. 


THE  NOEMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  273 

which  his.  task  would  have  been  more  difficult,  and  one  book  hi. 
beside  which  there  now  rises  a  lofty  viaduct,  along  which,     — '-' 
as  we  remember,  the  rush  of  modern  travel  disturbed  our  im- 
agination as  it  seemed  to  be  bringing  back  to  us  the  rush 
of  the  ancient  battle. 

The  battle  of  Stamford  Bridge  was  fought  on  the  26th  i^^-^dre- 
of  September.  It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  morning  of  ^"'■<^»' 
the  28th,  that  the  strange  sail  made  its  appearance  not  far 
from  Hastings,  which  proved  to  be  the  herald  of  the  great 
J^orman  armament.  The  news  of  the  landing  of  the  E'ormans 
was  conveyed  to  Harold  in  great  haste,  while  resting  with 
his  army  in  York.  IN^ow  the  crisis  had  come.  How  was  it 
to  be  met  ?  IS'orthumbria,  so  far  from  rendering  help,  re- 
quired the  presence  of  a  considerable  force  to  ensure  tran- 
quillity. Mercia,  represented  by  the  brothers-in-law  of 
Harold,  the  earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  was  cold  in  his  behalf, 
and  could  hardly,  perhaps,  have  been  brought  into  the  field 
with  much  effect  so  soon  after  the  disastrous  battle  of  Ful- 
ford.  The  Danes,  forming  so  large  a  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion, both  in  J^orthumbria  and  Mercia,  were  openly  indif- 
ferent to  the  pending  struggle ;  or,  if  inclined  either  way, 
were  with  the  l^ormans  rather  than  with  the  Saxons.  We  , 
see  the  fruit  of  this  Danish  policy  in  the  special  favour  so 
often  shown  to  that  people  by  the  N'ormans  in  after  time. 
Harold,  accordingly,  was  obliged  to  rest  almost  wholly  on 
the  pure  Saxon  element  of  the  south.  Hence  the  force 
which  he  was  able  to  bring  together  was  hardly  superior  to 
the  invaders  in  regard  to  numbers,  and  much  inferior  to 
them  in  regard  to  military  experience  and  equipment.  E'ot 
a  few  of  his  followers  consisted  of  patriotic  men  who  volun- 
teered their  services  almost  unarmed,  having  no  better 
weapons  to  use  than  a  club  or  a  fork,  a  pike  or  a  sling.  In 
the  I^orman  army  the  proportion  of  cavalry  was  enormous, 
such  as  should  in  itself  have  sufficed  for  the  conquest  of 
almost  any  kingdom  in  Europe.  But  in  this  respect  the 
army  under  Harold  was  weak,  as  all  Anglo-Saxon  armies 
had  hitherto  been. 

William  tried  the  effect  of  negotiation  before  appealing  wiiiiam'3 
to  the  sword.     He  was  willing,  he  said,  to  cede  to  Harold, 
Vol.  I.— 18 


274  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSS  ™"  *^^  whole  of  England  north  of  the  Humber ;  and  to  his 
brother  Gyrth,  all  the  lands  that  had  been  in  possession  of 
the  late  earl  Godwin ;  or  he  would  leave  the  issue  to  a  sin- 
gle combat,  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope,  or  even  to  a  deci- 
sion on  the  basis  of  Norman  or  English  law.  But  Harold 
appears  to  have  seen,  that  in  the  posture  to  which  affairs 
had  come,  the  only  choice  left  to  England,  was  either  to  free 
itself  of  the  IS'ormans,  or  to  become  their  victim.  The 
hollowness  of  the  fairest  of  these  promises,  if  accepted,  would 
soon  become  manifest.  The  strong,  obtaining  a  footing  at 
all,  would  be  sure  to  crush  the  weak,  on  the  first  conve- 
nient occasion. 

Harolds  Hcuce  the  reply  of  Harold  to  these  proposals  was,  that 

he  possessed  the  crown  of  England  according  to  the  will  of 
the  late  king,  and  according  to  the  suffrage  of  the  nobles 
and  people  of  the  land.  On  these  grounds  he  'demanded 
that  the  duke  and  his  followers  should  at  once  depart  from 
the  kingdom.  Tliat  Harold  declined  the  challenge  to  single 
combat  because  he  remembered  his  broken  vow,  and  that 
his  own  brother  Gyrth  urged,  for  that  reason,  that  he  should 
not  oppose  himself  to  William  even  in  the  field,  are  only 
portions  of  the  Norman  tale  on  this  subject.  No  native 
authority  makes  any  such  report,  though  the  king  had  his 
enemies  even  among  the  Saxons. 

During  the  first  fortnight  after  leaving  their  ships,  the 
Normans  ravaged  the  lands  of  Sussex  and  the  neighbour- 
hood— ^lands  of  which  the  Godwin  family  were,  for  the  most 
part,  the  owners.  Harold  hastened  his  measures,  and  joined 
the  army  at  Hastings  on  the  evening  of  the  13tli  of  October. 
Not  much  more  than  half  the  force,  known  to  be  at  his  dis- 
posal had  assembled ;  and  a  body  of  Danish  auxiliaries, 
sent  to  his  assistance  by  the  Danish  king  Svend,  had  im- 
bibed the  feeling  of  their  race  in  England,  and  refused  to 
fight  against  the  duke.  Harold  had  hoped  to  surprise  the 
Normans  by  an  attack  on  their  camp  in  the  following  night. 
But  William  heard  at  once  of  his  rival,  and  knew  that  the 
advantage  of  delay  would  be  wholly  on  the  side  of  the 
English.  Every  hour  would  add  to  their  numbers,  and 
would  add  to  the  difficulty  of  providing  for  the  wants  of  his 


THE  NOEMANS  IN  NORMANDY.  275 

own  army,  without  bringing  him  the  least  additional  support,  book  hi. 
He  decided,  accordingly,  that  the  foemen  should  meet  on     — '-' 
the  following  day. 

During  that  night  the  l^orman  ecclesiastics  administered 
the  offices  of  religion  to  such  as  were  disposed  to  attend 
to  them.  The  duke  partook  of  the  eucharist.  The  Saxon 
camp,  we  are  told — how  truly  we  know  not — presented  a 
different  scene.  The  night  was  there  spent,  it  is  said,  in 
feasting,  and  carousing.  We  know  that  among  the  follow- 
ers of  Harold  were  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  camp 
life.  They  had  many  of  them  been  engaged  in  hot  wars  with 
the  Welsh ;  and  at  Stamford  Bridge  they  had  just  tried 
their  metal  successfully  against  the  bravest  that  the  old 
home  of  these  ISTormans  could  send  against  them.  Harold 
and  his  army  should,  perhaps,  have  been  less  self-reliant. 
Certainly  an  undue  fear  of  their  enemies  cannot  be  laid  to 
their  charge  ;  and  those  enemies  well  knew  that  the  event 
only  could  declare  what  the  result  of  meeting  this  new 
enemy  would  be. 

At  length  came  the  morning  light  of  that  memorable  day  The  battle 
— the  14th  of  October,  1066.  William  addressed  his  chiefs 
in  terms  intended  to  satisfy  them  in  regard  to  the  justice 
of  their  cause,  and  to  assure  them  of  its  success.  While 
thus  employed,  a  messenger,  w^hose  horse  and  person  were 
covered  with  armour,  rode  up  to  say  the  time  had  come  to 
arm.  In  placing  his  coat  of  mail  over  his  head,  the  duke 
happened  to  turn  the  hind  part  before.  He  sarw  that  the 
awkward  incident  was  observed,  and,  to  prevent  unfavourable 
impressions,  he  said  that  so  it  had  been  with  his  fortune,  the 
right  thing  came  last,  he  had  been  duke,  he  should  soon 
become  king. 

William  arranged  his  army  in  three  divisions.  The  third 
division  he  commanded  himself,  and  there  his  own  banner 
waved.  Concerning  the  manner  in  which  the  Saxons  ac- 
quitted themselves  on  that  day  we  know  little  or  nothing 
from  the  Saxons  themselves.  The  version  of  the  conflict 
which  has  its  place  in  all  our  histories,  is  wholly  the  Anglo- 
Norman  version.  jN'evertheless,  even  through  these  sources, 
enough  becomes  known  to  make  it  evident  that  the  coun- 


276 


NORMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 


^c25/i"*  trymen  of  Alfred  were  not  wanting  in  prowess  on  the  field 
of  Hastings,  or  in  the  strength  which  can  endure  as  well 
as  dare. 

The  position  chosen  by  Harold  was  on  a  moderately 
rising  ground,  for  strictly  speaking  there  are  no  hills  near. 
His  army  was  drawn  out  in  a  wedge  form,  with  compact 
lines,  protected  by  a  wall  of  shields,  and  by  strong  palisades. 
The  men  of  London,  according  to  ancient  usage,  formed  the 
guard  of  the  king,  and  bore  his  standard.  The  men  of  Kent, 
on  the  same  ground  claimed  to  be  placed  in  front,  and  to 
strike  the  first  blow.  As  the  J^ormans  advanced,  Harold 
saw,  from  their  equipment,  their  numbers,  and  the  large 
proportion  of  cavalry,  that  treacherous  reports  had  led  him 
to  underrate  the  strength  of  his  enemies.  But  the  usual 
war  cries  rose  fearlessly,  from  N^orman  and  Saxon  alike,  as 
the  former  commenced  the  onslaught.  The  great  military 
bard  Taillefer  had  prayed  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  strike 
down  the  first  Englishman.  Hushing  in  advance,  he  ac- 
complished his  object.  But  the  Saxons  were  instantly  upon 
him,  and  the  bold  minstrel  was  the  next  among  the  slaio. 
This  daring  adventure  had  inspirited  the  l^ormans.  But  it 
availed  not.  The  line  of  the  Saxons  was  not  to  be  broken. 
Tlieir  steady  pressure  sent  disorder  among  the  ISTorman  in- 
fantry, and,  at  the  same  time,  a  portion  of  the  !N"orman  cav- 
alry fell  into  a  concealed  trench.  The  chiefs  among  the 
invaders  became  alarmed.  Many  of  them  evinced  the  ut- 
most bravery.  'No  man  was  more  conspicuous  in  urging 
the  wavering  to  firmness  than  Odo,  the  martial  bishop 
of  Bayeux,  brother  to  the  duke.  But  the  confusion  con- 
tinued to  increase.  First  the  left  wing,  composed  of  Bre- 
tons and  mercenaries,  fled.  Next  the  third  division,  where 
the  duke  commanded,  and  where  his  banner  was  visible, 
was  seen  in  retreat.  Gyrth  sent  his  spear  through  the  horse 
on  which  "William  rode.  Another  was  seized  from  the 
.  nearest  knight.  But  so  thick  were  the  death  strokes  near 
the  person  of  the  duke,  that  a  second  horse,  and  a  third,  fell 
under  him.  In  the  last  instance,  the  commander  owed  his 
rescue  to  the  timely  aid  of  the  count  Eustace.  The  flying 
men  gave  out  that  the  duke  had  fallen,  and  that  all  was  lost. 


THE  N0EMAN8  IN  NORMANDY.  277 

But  William  flew  to  the  quarter  of  the  panic,  removed  his  book  iil 
helmet  from  his  head,  and  called  loudly  on  the  fugitives  to  — '- 
rally,  and  to  save  themselves  by  brave  deeds  from  an  igno- 
minious destruction.  Tliis  appeal  was  not  in  vain,  and  was 
most  seasonable  ;  for  by  this  time  a  large  body  of  the  Kor- 
mans  found  themselves  in  the  rear  of  an  advanced  body  of 
the  English,  and  added  a  vigorous  onset  from  that  quarter, 
to  the  resistance  presented  by  the  duke  in  front.  Of  this 
division  of  the  English,  assailed  thus  from  all  sides,  very 
few  escaped.  Tlie  I^ormans  now  renewed  their  attack  on 
the  main  body.  But  the  Saxon  lines  seemed  invincible.  At 
nine  o'clock  the  signal  for  battle  had  been  given.  Tlirough 
six  hours  this  death  strife  had  been  protracted,  and  there 
was  no  sign  of  victory  on  either  side.  The  duke  now  re- 
membered the  success  of  an  early  hour  of  the  day,  when 
chance  drew  some  of  the  Saxons  from  their  position.  He 
resolved  to  attempt  doing  by  stratagem,  what  had  then 
been  done  without  forecast.  He  arranged  for  the  appar- 
ent flight  of  a  large  division.  The  unsuspecting  Saxons 
rushed  on  the  rear  of  their  enemies,  heaping  taunt  and 
sarcasm  upon  them  with  every  blow.  But  presently  the 
duke  gave  the  signal  to  halt,  and  to  form  the  lines.  The 
Saxons  now  saw  their  error.  The  fate  which  had  befallen  the 
advanced  division  in  the  morning,  now  befel  a  much  larger 
number  in  the  evening.  Tlie  loss  thus  sustained  by  the 
English  was  great — irretrievable  ;  but  neither  party  would 
seem  to  have  seen  it  to  be  so.  Many  extraordinary  deeds 
were  done  by  heroic  Saxons  when  this  dark  hour  of  the  day 
had  come.  But  no  names  are  mentioned.  Tliat  honour 
was  reserved  by  the  Anglo-lSTorman  writers  for  the  distin- 
guished men  of  their  own  race.  "William,  it  is  said,  had 
eagerly  sought  for  Harold,  and  once  fell  on  a  bold  Saxon 
thane,  supposing  he  had  found  him.  The  thane  beat  in  the 
helmet  of  his  assailant,  and  would  have  changed  the  future 
of  English  history,  had  not  the  attendants  of  the  commander 
come  to  his  deliverance.  Thus  did  hope  and  fear  rock 
against  each  other  through  that  live-long  day.  Even  as  the 
sun  is  going  down,  a  body  of  cavaliers,  with  the  brave  count 
Eustace  at  their  head,  are  seen  flying  in  the  direction  of  the 


278  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^S!S.?'  ^^7^^  standard  ;  and  as  the  count  bends  towards  the  ear  of 
the  duke  in  passing  to  say,  in  a  subdued  voice,  that  retreat 
is  unavoidable,  the  blow  from  a  pursuing  Saxon  falls  be- 
tween his  shoulders,  sends  the  blood  from  his  mouth  and  nos- 
trils, and  he  sinks  to  the  ground.  It  was  this  count  Eustace 
who  had  saved  the  life  of  the  duke  in  the  morning.  But  to 
William,  retreat  was  worse  than  death.  He  looked  to  the 
point  where  Harold's  standard  was  yet  seen,  surrounded  by 
the  flower  of  his  army.  "Were  there  no  Normans  left  who 
could  rush  in  there,  and  seize  that  ensign  ?  Some  twenty 
men  of  rank  volunteered  to  lead  the  way  thither.  The  greater 
part  of  them  perished.  But  their  work  was  done.  Tlie 
archers  had  raised  their  bows  higher  than  before.  Tlie  fatal 
arrow  jDierced  the  eye  of  the  king.  His  two  faithful  broth- 
ers, Gyrth  and  Leofwin,  fell  by  his  side.  Soon  only  the  dead 
or  dying  of  king  Harold's  army  were  on  the  plain.  As  the 
darkness  came  once  more  to  the  quiet  earth,  it  fell  on  thane 
and  peasant,  on  ecclesiastics  and  nobles  thickly  strewed 
together.  But  they  had  done  their  best  in  defence  of  their 
own  homeland.  Among  the  armed  combatants  who  there 
,  fell,  were  an  English  abbot  and  eleven  of  his  monks.  Eng- 
land is  not  to  have  another  Saxon  king — is  never  to  see 
another  Saxon  army.* 

*  Guil.  Pictav.  W.  Malms.  H.  Huntingdon.  Ordcricus.  Fl.  Wigorn. 
Roman  de  Rou.  Chron  Sax.  These  authorities  are  not  all  agreed  in  their 
descriptions  of  this  memorable  battle.  The  account  in  the  text  may,  we 
think,  be  accepted  as  correct.  '  How  great,  think  j'ou,  must  have  been  the 
slaughter  of  the  conquered,  when  that  of  the  conquerors  is  reported,  upon 
the  lowest  estimate,  to  have  exceeded  ten  thousand  ?  Oh,  how  vast  a  flood 
of  human  gore  was  poured  out  in  that  place  where  these  unfortunates  fell  and 
were  slain !  What  dashing  to  pieces  of  arms,  what  shrieks  of  dying  men  ! 
In  the  contemplation  of  it  our  pen  fails  us.' — Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey,  trans- 
lated by  Marc  Antony  Lower,  A.  M.  Ordericus  makes  the  Norman  loss 
16,000. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    COJS^QUEST   IN   ITS   EELATION   TO   PEOPEETY. 

WILLIAM  paused  awhile  after  the  victory  at  Hastings,  chap.  2.* 
expecting  some  signs  of  submission  from  the  people,  submission 
But  the  signs  came  not.  He  then  ravaged  several  countries,  English, 
and  was  afterwards  laid  up  with  sickness  during  some  weeks 
near  Canterbury.  Tlie  English  made  no  use  of  this  occasion. 
It  only  served  to  show  that  the  leadership  necessary  to  any 
formidable  resistance  had  ceased  to  exist.  The  Conqueror 
next  took  up  his  position  at  Berkhamstead,  for  the  purpose 
of  intercepting  any  communication  that  might  be  attempted 
between  the  north  and  south.  At  that  place  young  Edgar, 
grandson  of  the  Ironside,  and  heir,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the 
English  throne,  presented  his  submission.  Stigand,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  Eldred,  archbishop  of  York,  with 
many  other  persons  of  rank,  followed  this  example.  The 
Londoners  had  proclaimed  and  crowned  Edgar  as  king; 
but,  deserted  and  alone,  they  felt  that  resistance  w^ould  be 
worse  than  useless. 

The  followers  of  the  Conqueror  now  became  impatient  coronation 
to  see  the  English  crown  placed  upon  his  brow.  It  was  queror. 
determined,  accordingly,  that  the  ceremony  of  his  corona- 
tion should  take  place  at  Christmas.  On  that  occasion  the 
abbey  church  of  "Westminster  was  decorated  as  when  the 
sovereigns  of  England  were  wont  to  be  greeted  there  by  the 
loyal  acclamations  of  the  '  best '  of  the  land.  William 
knew  that  his  own  ear  was  not  to  be  thus  greeted.  Triple 
lines  of  soldiers  fenced  off  the  road  between  his  camp  and 
the  minister.  All  the  avenues  immediately  about  the 
edifice  were  guarded  by  cavalry.     In  the  train  of  the  duke 


280 


NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


^^^^^/g"- followed  two  hundred   and   sixty  E'orman   chiefs.     When 

Eldred,  archbishop  of  York,  put  the  question  to  those  chiefs, 

and  to  the  few  Saxons  present :  '  Will  je  have  William 
duke  of  E'ormandy  for  your  king  ? '  the  shout  of  the  ]^or- 
mans  was  so  loud,  that  the  horsemen  in  the  street,  suspect- 
ing, or  pretending  to  suspect,  some  treason,  began  to  set  fire 
to  the  neighbouring  houses.  The  parties  within  the  church, 
becoming  in  their  turn  alarmed,  rushed  nearly  all  into  the 
open  air.  But  a  few  trembling  ecclesiastics  remained,  and 
received  from  the  lips  of  the  scarcely  less  trembling  king, 
the  j)ledge  that  he  would  govern  the  English  people  accord- 
ing to  their  own  laws,  and  in  all  things  as  justly  and  hu- 
manely as  the  best  of  their  kings  had  governed  them.* 
^ouLTof  William  did  not  affect  to  take  possession  of  the  crown 

tSe!**^^  of  England  by  the  right  of  conquest.  He  claimed  to  be 
accepted  as  king  in  virtue  of  his  relationship  to  Edward  the 
Confessor,  and  according  to  the  alleged  will  of  that  mon- 
arch. This  pretension  may  have  been  invalid — absuixl ;  but 
nevertheless,  it  was  on  this  pretension  that  William  pro- 
fessed to  ground  his  right,  and  not  on  the  sword.  In  con- 
sonance with  this  policy,  he  came,  according  to  his  own  lan- 
guage, not  to  subvert,  but  to  uphold,  the  existing  laws.  It 
is  true  his  claim  had  been  resisted,  and  there  were  grave . 
penalties  awaiting  those  who  had  made  that  resistance.  But 
William  professed  to  distinguish  between  those  who  had 
taken  part  with  the  late  usurper,  and  the  nation  at  large, 
which,  as  he  pretended,  had  not  been  a  party  to  that  pro- 
ceeding. Measures  were  soon  taken  to  secure  the  names 
of  all  persons  who  had  fought  against  him,  or  who  had  in 
any  way  aided  or  encouraged  those  who  had  so  done.f  And 
we  know  that  the  persons  who  might  be  comprehended 
under  one  or  the  other  of  these  descriptions,  would  include 
nearly  the  whole  nation.  Still,  a  distinction  was  made, 
between  those  who  had  shown  disaffection,  and  those  who 
had  not ;  and,  in  effecting  to  restrict  his  penalties  to  the 

*  Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  i.  Malms,  lib.  iii.  Guil.  Pictav.  205,  206.  Eadmer, 
6.    Brompton,  961.    Guil.  Newburg.  3. 

f  Guil.  Pictav.  Madox's  History  of  the  Exchequer^  folio.  Bialogu8  de 
Scaccario.     Hale's  History  of  the  Common  Law,  chap.  o. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   PROPERTY.  281 

former  class,  "William  claimed  the  credit  of  doing  only  as  book  iil 
any  lawful  sovereign  would  have  done  in  the  same  circum-     — '— 
stances. 

But  it  soon  became  manifest  that  the  victory  at  Hastings  Displace- 
had  not  subdued  disafiection.  JSTew  hostilities  not  only  pre-  Km^*^*' 
pared  the  way  for  new  confiscations,  but  furnished  pretexts 
for  a  more  rigorous  application  of  the  general  law  of  retri- 
bution. Eapacity,  and  the  love  of  power,  so  conspicuous 
both  in  the  king  and  his  followers,  disposed  them,  as  such 
events  arose,  to  look  on  the  country  more  and  more  as  a  con- 
quered country  to  be  dealt  with  at  their  pleasure.  William, 
indeed,  never  ceased  to  speak  of  his  office  as  king  of  Eng- 
land as  his  by  right  and  inheritance ;  and  this  idea  continued 
to  the  last  to  influence  many  of  his  proceedings.  But  when 
his  passions  were  roused,  or  his  followers  become  clamorous, 
his  schemes  of  spoliation  expanded,  so  as  to  evince  little  re- 
spect for  law  or  custom.  The  Danes,  as  they  had  not  joined 
the  struggle  between  the  Saxon  and  the  l^orman,  were 
allowed  generally  to  retain  their  possessions.  But  in  less 
than  twenty  years,  the  Saxon  landlord  was  displaced,  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  l^orman.  E'orman 
castles  made  their  appearance  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
.and  the  strangers  by  whom  they  were  garrisoned,  became 
known  among  the  natives  by  the  name  of , the  '  castle-men.' 

In  carrying  out  this  great  scheme  of  plunder  in  our  his- 
tory, the  king  himself  set  a  fruitful  example.  He  claimed, 
not  only  all  the  lands,  but  all  the  treasure  and  movables,  of 
the  former  kings  of  England.  He  descended  so  far  as  to  enrich 
himself  by  robbing  churches  of  their  ornaments,  and  by 
appropriating  articles  of  rarity  and  value  from  the  shops  of 
tradesmen.  From  the  accumulations  thus  made,  William 
sent  costly  presents  to  the  pope,  in  return  for  his  blessing. 
Similar  acknowledgments  were  made  to  churches  in  ^Nor- 
mandy,  where  many  prayers  had  been  offered  for  the  success 
of  his  enterprise.  What  the  king  did  in  London,  the  barons, 
and  many  inferior  men,  did  in  many  towns  and  cities."^ 

The  word  manor  is  of  E'orman  origin,  and  seems  to  have  Distribu- 

^      '  tion  of 

manors. 
*  Chron.  Sax.   1066-1070.     Simeon  Dunelm.   200.      Mat.  West.     Roger 
Wen  do  V. 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

0 

^cui^."^'  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  denote  a  considerable  estate,  with  a  lionse  or 
•  mansion  npon  it  as  the  residence  of  its  owner.     The  crown 

lands  recorded  in  the  Domesday  Book  include  more  than 
1400  manors,  besides  other  properties  not  fully  described. 
The  earl  of  Moretaine,  the  Conqueror's  half-brother,  be- 
came possessed  of  nearly  800  manors,  spread  over  nineteen 
counties.  The  earl  of  Bretagne,  who  commanded  the  rear 
in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  had  442.  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux, 
brother  to  William,  had  439,  which  gave  him  authority  in 
seventeen  counties.  The  bishop  of  Coutance,  who,  in  com- 
mon with  Odo,  was  also  a  soldier,  had  280.  Roger  de 
Bresli  had  174  in  N'ottinghamshire.  Ilbert  de  Laci  had  164, 
chiefly  in  Yorkshire.  William  Perceval,  the  Conqueror's 
natural  son,  had  162.  Robert  de  Sanford,  150.  Roger  de 
Laci,  116.  Hugh  de  Montfort,  more  than  100.  AVilliam 
de  Warren  had  territorial  allotments  in  Sussex,  and  in 
eleven  other  English  counties.* 

These  instances  are  enough  to  suggest  what  the  scheme 
.  of  distribution  was,  which  took  place  immediately  after  the 
Conquest.  The  lands  seized  by  William  were  either  crown 
lands,  or  those  which  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the  most 
considerable  families,  such  as  the  Godwins  and  the  Alfgars 
of  Mercia.  From  the  other  parts  of 'the  country,  his  follow- 
ers received  such  allotments  as  were  deemed  appropriate  to 
their  rank,  or  to  their  past  services.f 
Case  of  When  Exeter  was  taken — for  that  city  had  dared  to 

resist  the  Conqueror  after  the  battle  of  Hastings — an  inci- 
dent occurred  which  showed  how  much  caprice  and  passion 

*  Ellis's  Introduction  to  Domesday/,  Ixxii.  Brady's  Introduction,  13.  Hut- 
chins's  Dissert,  on  Domesday  Book,  ii.  27,  49,  118.  It  is  due  to  the  Conqueror 
to  state,  that  he  evidently  had  not  in  all  cases  power  to  restrain  his  followers 
from  the  work  of  destruction  and  pillage  on  which  they  were  bent.  It  ap- 
pears, also,  from  Domesday,  that  some  men  seized  upon  estates  without  his 
authority,  and  held  them  hy  no  other  title  than  their  own  will.  These  lands 
are  described  in  the  record  as  invasiones — denoting  that  they  had  been  seized, 
and  were  retained,  as  above  stated. — Ellis's  Introduction,  x. 

f  '  Thus  strangers  were  enriched  with  England's  wealth,  while  her  sons 
were  iniquitously  slain,  or  sent  into  hopeless  exile  into  foreign  lands.  It  is 
stated  that  the  king  himself  received  daily  £1060  2«.  6f(/.  sterling  money  from 
the  regular  revenues  in  England  alone,  independently  of  presents,  fines  for 
offences,  and  many  other  matters  which  come  into  a  royal  treasury.' — Order- 
icus,  bk.  iv.  c.  7.  William  added  greatly  to  the  sufferings  of  his  tenants  by 
farming  his  estates  to  the  highest  bidders. — Guil.  Pictav.  208.  Chron.  Sax. 
Ordericus,  iv.  7. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   PROPERTY.  283 

had  to  do  with  these  proceedings.  Brihtric,  a  rich  Saxon  book  in. 
of  Devonshire,  liad  heen  ambassador  from  king  Edward  to  — '-'  * 
the  count  of  Flanders.  Matilda,  then  the  unmarried  daugh- 
ter of  the  count  of  Flanders,  now  the  queen  of  England,  had 
cherished  a  passion  for  the  Englisliman,  to  which  the  latter, 
it  is  said,  made  no  response.  On  the  fall  of  Exeter,  the 
time  came  for  a  distribution  of  estates  in  Devonshire,  and 
for  Matilda  to  be  avenged  on  Brihtric.  He  was  seized  by 
JSTormans  while  engaged  in  the  consecration  of  a  chapel  on 
his  own  manor  of  Ilanley,  and  thrust  into  prison  at  "Win- 
chester, where  he  died.  The  person  of  the  delinquent  being 
thus  disposed  of,  the  queen  shared  considerably  in  his 
estates."^ 

Selden  and  Judge  Hale  affirm  that  no  Englishman  was  ^p/J;!^^^^^ 
deprived  of  his  possessions  by  the  Conqueror  simply  on  the  Haie. 
ground  of  his  being  an  Englishman.f  This  may  be  true ; 
but  what  was  the  nature  of  the  pretexts  which  too  often 
served  as  a  covering  for  such  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the 
king  himself,  and,  still  more,  on  the  part  of  his  followers  ? 
The  church  and  abbey  lands  were  generally  undisturbed ; 
and  for  a  while  a  few  distinguished  Saxons  of  both  sexes, 
were  allowed  to  retain  possession  of  estates.  But  Eadric 
the  Forester,  who  disputed  the  IS'orman  sway  in  Hereford- 
shire, and  along  the  Welsh  border,  seems  to  have  been  the 
only  Saxon  who,  having  taken  arms  against  the  invaders, 
was  found  in  possession  of  his  lands  twenty  years  after  the 
Conquest. :j:  And  from  that  time  we  discover  no  trace  of 
men  of  wealth  or  position  among  the  natives.  In  general,  the 
English  became  tenants  where  they  had  been  landlords, 
and  the  humbler  classes  passed,  with  the  estates  on  which 
they  had  long  dwelt,  into  the  hands  of  the  new  masters. 
.  Ko  thanks  to  the  l^ormans,  if  the  English  were  generally 
accepted  as  labourers  and  as  tenants,  and  even  on  reason- 
able conditions.  Tlie  land  was  of  small  value  except  on 
such  terms.     Domesday  Booh  shows  that  tlie  men  who  cul- 

*  Ellis's  Introd.  ii.  54.     Thierry,  bk.  i.  353.     Lappenberg's  England  under 
the  Normans,  122,  123. 

f  Selden,  Notce  Eadmer.     Hale's  Hist  Common  Law,  e.  v. 
\  Lappenberg,  117. 


284: 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


^cu^?.  2.""  tivated  and  occupied  the  land  after  the  Conquest,  were  much 
the  same  as  before  that  event.* 

tenu^L  With  this  great  change,  in  regard  to  the  possessors  of 

property,  came  another  regarding  the  tenures  on  which 
property  should  be  held.  Some  learned  men  account  feudal 
tenures  as  not  older  in  England  than  the  Conquest.  Others 
insist  that  they  were  familiar  to  the  Anglo-Saxons  long 
before.  Both  these  opinions,  though  the  contrary  of  each 
other,  have  their  measure  of  truth.f  It  is  certain  that  some 
of  the  elements  of  the  feudal  system  were  not  unknown 
among  the  Saxons  and  the  Danes  in  this  country  before  the 
Conquest.:):  But  it  was  left  to  the  Conqueror  to  extend  that 
system  to  the  whole  kingdom,  and  to  establish  it  definitely, 
after  the  Continental  model.  Under  "William,  all  the  hold- 
ers of  land  in  England,  became  either  tenants  to  the  crown, 
or  subtenants  to  those  who  were  such  ;  and  the  conditions 
of  the  holding — or  the  virtual  rent  to  be  paid — ^both  by 
the  tenant  in  chief,  and  by  the  subtenant,  were  the  same. 
The  lesser  vassal  owed  to  his  lord,  whatever  his  lord,  as  his 
greater  vassal,  owed  to  the  king;.  In  this  manner,  all  the 
lands  of  England  were  legally  vested  in  the  king,  and  the 
uses  of  them  only  pertained  to  the  subject. 

Knight  sor-         What  wc  havc  ventured  to  call  the  virtual  rent  of  the 

soccage.  land  was  twofold.  It  consisted  in  what  was  known  by  the 
name  of  hnight  service  and  soccage.  Knight  service  bound 
the  tenant  to  supply  the  king  with  a  certain  military  force 
when  required.  Soccage  consisted  in  the  obligation  to  ren- 
der other  services,  not  military,  to  the  landlord,  such  as 
ploughing  his  ground,  or  supplying  his  table,  according  to 
stipulation.  It  is  supposed  that  many  of  the  serfs  were 
allowed  by  the  Normans  to  cultivate  small  portions  of  land, 
on  certain  conditions,  and  that  this  class  rose  by  degrees, 
under  the  name  of  villeins,  to  have  a  permanent  and  legal 
interest  in  their  lands  in  the  nature  of  copyhold.^  The  religious 
houses  were  exempt  from  the  obligation  to  knight  service,  on 
the  ground  that  the  owners  of  such  lands  were  men  occupied 

*  Ellis's  Introd.  cc.  11-14. 

f  Judfije  Hale  is  disposed  to  date  feudal  tenures  in  England  from  the  Con- 
quest.— Hist.  Common  Law,  e.  v.  But  Coko,  Selden,  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Tem- 
ple, Saltern,  and  the  author  of  the  Mirror  date  them  much  earlier. 

X  See  pp.  239-241. 


THE   CONQrEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   PROPERTY.  285 

in  religious  duties,  but  in  reality,  we  presume,  on  the  ground  book  hi. 
that  they  were  expected  to  keep  large  hospitality.  — - ' 

England  was  thus  covered  with  a  great  military  network.  ^JJ^tary 
The  Normans  became,  what  the  Enejlish  had  never  become,  thexor- 

'  o  7  mans  In 

a  compact  organization,  a  potent  unity.  This  power  was  ^°6^n^ 
everywhere  diifused,  but  lost  nothing  by  diffusion.  The 
isolation  was  apparent,  not  real.  Tlie  word  might  be  given 
at  any  moment,  and  armed  men  sprang  up  in  all  places 
under  the  standard  of  their  respective  leaders.  What  the 
Tower  of  London  became  to  the  Conqueror,  the  fortresses 
with  which  the  land  was  now  studded  became  to  the  barons, 
]^or  was  this  system,  so  readily  established,  of  short  dura- 
tion. It  descends  in  its  entireness  to  the  sons  of  the  first 
chiefs,  and  exerts  a  powerful  influence  on  the  institutions  of 
this  country  for  centuries  to  come.  By  this  means  the  first 
I^orman  king  had  not  less  than  50,000  armed  men  always 
at  his  disposal.* 

In  the  wrono-s  which  befel  this  country  after  the  battle  stat«  of 

c'  'J  the  towns. 

of  Hastings,  the  householder  in  the  town  shared  hardly  bet- 
ter than  the  landholder  in  the  country.  The  dwelling-place 
of  the  burgher,  and  the  acres  of  the  agriculturist,  were  seized 
in  the  same  spirit.  One  effect  of  these  proceedings  was  that 
many  of  the  towns  were  almost  depopulated.  Those  who 
plundered  them  scared  away  the  people.  Many  suffered 
much  from  fire.  In  others,  almost  whole  streets  were  pulled 
down  to  supply  material  for  castle-building.  Lincoln  pos- 
sessed 1150  houses  before  the  Conquest ;  afterwards,  166 
were  demolished  to  erect  the  castle,  and  100  were  without 
inhabitants.  Norwich  was  a  wealthy  city.  In  the  time  of 
Edward  the  Confessor  it  included  1320  houses,  and  soon 
after  the  Norman  ascendency  nearly  half  that  number  had 
disappeared.  Chester,  Derby,  and  York,  all  suffered  much 
on  the  same  scale,  and  Oxford  more  than  any  one  of  them. 
Many  of  the  spoliators  of  the  first  generation  were  low  men, 
whose  coarse  insolence  was  often  more  difiicult  to  bear  than 
their  rapacity  and  oppression. f 

*  Ordericus,  lib.  v.  c.  1,  Y.     Reeve's  History  of  English  Law,  i.  c.  2. 

f  '  Ignorant  upstarts,  driven  almost  mad  by 'their  sudden  elevation,  won- 
dered how  they  arrived  at  such  a  pitch  of  power,  and  thought  that  they  might 
do  whatever  they  chose.' — Ordericus,  iv.  c.  8. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  EELATION  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 


b6ok  III 

Chap.  3. 


TT  has  sometimes  been  accounted  strange  that    a  single 
How  the      -*-  battle  sliould  have  sufficed  to  transfer  a  ffreat  king-dom 

Battle  of        .  ,     --  ^  c5 

Hastings      mto  whollv  ucw  hauds.     But  the  event  admits  of  explana- 

came  to  ho.  nri  '    t       n  i 

so  decisive,  tiou.  Ihc  trial  of  Strength,  as  we  have  seen,  was  "hot  so 
much  between  ISTormandj  and  England,  as  between  ISTor- 
mandj  and  Wessex,  ]S"ortliumbria  was  in  disorder  and 
weakness.  Mercia  stood  aloof.  The  first  had  little 
power  to  render  assistance;  the  second  happened  to  be 
in  weak  hands,  and  seems  to  have  looked  with  jealousy 
on  the  elevation  of  the  Godwins  in  the  person  of  Harold. 
It  should  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  England  at  that 
time  possessed  few  places  of  strength.  It  had  castles,  but 
they  were  rarely  seen,  and  were  nowhere  formidable.  Some 
of  its  cities  had  walls  and  gates.  But  in  general  they  were 
open  to  assault  from  any  quarter.  Hence  an  enemy  as- 
cendant in  the  field,  might  soon  become  ascendant  .every- 
where. The  nation  did  not  at  that  time  possess  the  wealth 
necessary  to  guard  itelf  effectually  from  danger  either  upon 
the  land  or  the  deep.  It  had  to  provide  for  its  safety  on 
both  elements,  and  for  centuries  had  found  great  difficulty 
in  so  doing.  It  should  be  borne  in  m^nd,  also,  that  England 
at  that  juncture  was  not  more  wanting  in  places  of  great 
strength,  than  in  great  men  to  command  them.  Earl  Wal- 
theof,  son  of  the  late  veteran  soldier  Siward,  was,  like  his 
sire,  both  strong  and  brave,  and,  as  we  may  believe,  devout 
and  honest.  But  that  is  nearly  all  we  know  of  him.  If 
the  north  wag  to  act  at  all,  it  was  through  him.  But  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  a  man  of  real  power.     The  young 


THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  PEOPLE.   287 

earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  liad  Mercia  in  their  hands,  but  book  iil 

.  '  Chap.  8. 

evidently  knew  not  liow  to  use   it.      Some  other  Saxon     

names  come  to  the  surface.  But,  in  fact,  Harold  was  the 
only  man  possessing  the  combination  of  civil  prudence  and 
military  capacity  demanded  by  the  crisis.  'No  such  man 
survived  the  battle  of  Hastings.  Tlie  Dane,  as  we  have 
seen,  took  no  part  against  the  Norman ;  and  even  the  clergy 
were  in  a  great  degree  quiescent  rather  than  active.  Harold 
made  little  effort  to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the  priesthood. 
Some  tonsured  men  fought  by  his  side  in  his  last  battle ;  but 
William  came  with  the  pope's  benediction,  and  the  con- 
science of  ecclesiastics  in  those  days  was  an  artificial,  not  a 
natural,  conscience.  When  all  these  points  are  considered, 
it  must  cease  to  be  surprising  that  so  great  a  battle,  so  pro- 
tracted and  so  destructive  as  took  place  at  Hastings,  should 
have  led  to  results  so  decisive. 

But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Eng-  subsequent 
lish  became  at  once  passive  under  the  yoke  imposed  on  theEngSh! 
them.  Copsi,  earl  of  Northumberland,  made  his  terms 
with  the  Conqueror.  But  his  people  accounted  those  terms 
more  selfish  than  patriotic,  and  the  earl  perished  as  a  victim 
of  their  resentment."^  This  happened  in  the  spring  of  1067. 
In  the  course  of  the  summer  there  were  other  signs  of  in- 
quietude. As  the  winter  came  on,  the  aspect  of  affairs  was 
so  little  satisfactory,  that  William,  who  was  in  Normandy, 
embarked  in  foul  December  weather,  for  the  purpose  of 
checking  the  disorders  in  his  new  dominions. 

Exeter  was  a  fortified  city,  and  a  place  of  considerable  siege  of 
trade  and  wealth.  Britons  and  Saxons  had  long  dwelt 
together  within  its  walls,  and  leading  men  of  both  races 
were  resident  in  its  neighborhood.  The  citizens  had  not 
opened  their  gates  to  a  Norman,  and  were  not  disposed  to  ac- 
knowledge the  authority  of  that  race.  William  approached, 
demanding  the  surrender  of  the  place,  and  that  the  citi- 
zens should  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  '  We  are  not  pre- 
pared to  do  either,'  was  the  answer ;  '  we  can  only  promise 
to  pay  tribute  to  the  king  now,  as  we  have  paid  it  in  past 
time.'     William  replied  that  he  had  not  been  wont  to  ac- 

*  Guil.  Pictav.     Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  3. 


288 


NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  8. 


Hostile 
movement 
of  the 
Saxon 
nobles. 


State  of 
the  north. 


Insurrec- 
tion at 
Durham. 


cept  of  subjects  on  siicli  terms,  and  began  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  an  assault.  At  tliis  point  some  of  the  more  consid- 
erable of  the  inhabitants  came  out  to  meet  him,  and  took 
upon  them  to  negotiate  for  his  admission  into  the  place, 
giving  hostages  for  the  performance  of  their  promise.  But, 
on  coming  near  the  city  gate,  William  found  that  the  citi- 
zens had  loudly  denounced  the  timid  policy  of  those  who  had 
presumed  to  speak  for  them,  and  were  prepared  to  resist  his 
entrance.  The  Conqueror  gave  orders  that  the  eyes  of  one 
of  the  hostages  should  be  torn  out  in  front  of  the  nearest 
gate.  The  deed  was  done,  but  the  citizens  were  firm.  The 
place  could  not  be  taken  by  storm ;  and  it  was  not  until 
the  eighteenth  day  of  the  siege,  when  the  walls  had  been 
undermined,  that  the  inhabitants  opened  the  gates.  "Wil- 
liam, with  the  uncertainty  which  attended  his  distribution 
of  penalties,  treated  the  people  leniently.* 

On  his  visit  to  Normandy,  in  the  spring  of  1067,  the 
Conqueror  took  with  him  the  chief  Saxon  nobles,  partly  to 
add  splendour  to  his  retinue,  and  partly  to  secure  them  from 
intriguing  against  him  during  his  absence.  On  their  return 
these  persons  were  filled  with  indignation  as  they  saw  the 
oppressions  to  which  their  countrymen  were  subject.  Tlie 
earls  Edwin,  Morcar  and  Gospatric,  the  three  youthful  sons 
of  the  late  king  Harold,  Blithwallon,  king  of  I^orth  AVales, 
and  others  of  less  note,  began  to  form  plans  in  the  hope  of 
expelling  the  Normans.f  It  is  true,  this  confederacy  led  to 
nothing  important.  But  such  restlessness  on  the  surface 
bespeaks  a  deeper  restlessness  beneath. 

The  north  of  England,  from  the  Humber  to  the  Tyne, 
was  a  sea  of  disaffection.  Over  that  district,  the  town,  the 
forest,  the  marsh — every  place  that  could  be  used  as  a  for- 
tress— ^was  transformed  to  that  purpose.  The  hardy  men 
who  took  possession  of  such  places,  made  so  light  of  their 
privations,  that  the  l!^ormans  spoke  of  them  as  savages. 
But  they  were  led  by  men  who  had  the  noblest  Saxon  blood 
in  their  veins. :[ 

In  the  early  part  of  1069,  the  king  sent  Kobert  of  Co- 


*  Chron.  Sax.     Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  4. 

^  Chron.  Sax.     Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  4. 


t  Ibid. 


THE   CONQrEST   m   ITS   RELATION   TO  THE   PEOPLE.        289 

mines  to  administer  the  law  in  the  county  of  Durham,  book  til 
Eobert,  in  defiance  of  the  prudent  counsel  of  the  bishofj,  — - 
Haunted  the  J^orman  banner  through  the  town,  and  .gave 
such  licence  to  the  armed  men  who  attended  him,  that 
blood  was  shed,  and  more  than  one  ecclesiastic  was  killed. 
On  the  next  night,  the  fire-signal  passed  from  village  to 
village,  and  by  day-break  a  multitude  of  men  had  covertly 
flocked  together  under  the  walls  of  the  city.  The  gates 
were  no  sooner  open,  than  the  crowd  from  the  country 
rushed  in,  and  joined  the  townsmen  in  the  cry  for  ven- 
geance. Robert  was  called  from  his  bed  in  the  bishop's 
palace.  The  Normans  used  that  edifice  as  a  fortress,  and 
defended  themselves  obstinately.  But  every  man  perished, 
either  by  the  sword,  or  by  the  fire  which  the  assailants  ap- 
plied to  the  building. 

About  the  same  time,  Robert  Fitz-Richard,  another  dis-  nisturb- 
tinejuished  l^orman,  was  slain,  with  many  of  his  followers,  west— in- 

^  '  '  "^  vasion  of 

In  Shropshire  there  was  a  similar  outbreak  .  under  Eadric  tiiei>anes. 
the  Forester.  In  the  west,  Harold's  sons  ravaged  the  coast 
with  armed  bands  from  Ireland,  and  the  insurgent  Saxons 
meditated  an  attack  on  Exeter :  and,  to  add  to  all  these 
sources  of  inquietude,  a  considerable  Danish  force  came  to 
the  assistance  of  the  natives.* 

In  all  these  movements  there  was  a  want  of  the  large-  ^ncerf 
ness  and  concert  necessary  to  success.     Misfortune  seemed  E^grifb?^ 
to  attend  them.     The  right  thing  rarely  happened  at  the  . 
right  time.     But  there  is  enough  in  them  to  show,  that  if 
England  remained  the  bondsman  of  the  Norman,  it  was 
more  from  the  want  of  men  competent  to  deal  with  their 
affairs,  than  from  the  want  of  sound  national  feeling. f 

William  now  resolved  that  these  disturbances  should,  if  Devastation 
possible,  be  brought  to  an  end.  His  first  object  was  to  buy  J^^^^^J^^g 
off  the  leader  of  the  Danes,  in  which  he  succeeded.  His  next 
step  was  to  reduce  the  north  of  England,  which  had  shown 
so  little  love  to  him,  and  given  him  so  much  trouble,  to  a 
wilderness.  For  this  purpose  he  issued  orders  that  all  food, 
and  all^utensils  for  the  preparation  of  food,  that  came  in 
the  way  of  his  army,  should  be  destroyed.    The  famine  thus 

*  Ordericus,  lib,  iv.  c.  4,  6.  f  Hist.  Reg.  lib.  iii. 

Vol.  I.— 19 


290  NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^cS5  "^*  brought  on  converted  many  of  the  wretched  people  into  can- 
nibals,  and,  according  to  Norman  writers,  must  have  swept 
awaj  a  hundred  thousand  lives !  Tlie  armed  men  were 
chased  into  every  imaginable  retreat,  the  unarmed  every- 
where perished  from  hunger  or  the  sword.  The  dead  lay 
unburied,  and  pestilence  came  in  the  track  of  want.  Til- 
lages and  towns  disappeared,  not  to  rise  again  for  genera- 
tions to  come.  Malmesbury,  writing  some  seventy  years 
later,  says,  no  stranger  can  pass  through  the  country  with- 
out lamentation,  on  seeing  magnificent  cities,  and  towers 
threatening  heaven  in  their  loftiness,  laid  in  ruin,  and  such 
desolation  and  barrenness  everywhere,  that  if  any  old 
inhabitant  remained  in  the  place,  he  knew  it  no  longer.* 
The  land  of  no  man  was  safe,  not  even  the  church  lands  of 
Beverley  and  Durham.  Special  vengeance  fell  on  the  es- 
tates of  Edwin,  Morcar,  Waltheof,  and  Mserlesweyne,  the 
only  Saxons  from  whom  future  opposition  might  be  appre- 
hended.* 

William's  William  had  become  more  deeply  convinced  than  ever 

ultimate  ^  ^^   '^ 

policy.  that  the  position  which  he  had  gained  by  the  sword  could 
be  made  secure  only  by  such  means.  His  followers  did 
what  they  could  to  strengthen  that  conviction.  It  favoured 
their  policy,  which  was  to  account  the  rights  of  the  natives 
as  extinct,  to  garrison  the  whole  country,  and  to  divide  it  as 
a  spoil  between  them. 

Many  of  the  more  warlike  among  the  English  now  fled 
westward,  and  migrated  from  the  ports  of  Wales  to  the  con- 
tinent, with  their  arms  in  their  hands,  soliciting  help  for 
their  country  or  oifering  their  services  to  foreign  princes. 
One  body  of  such  men,  under  the  command  of  Siward,  a 
soldier  of  reputation  in  Gloucestershire,  extended  their 
travels  as  far  as  Sicily,  where  they  were  enrolled  in  the 
army  of  the  Emperor  Alexis,  under  the  name  of  the  axe- 
hearers.  It  happened,  too,  that  when  the  N^ormans,  under 
Hobert  Guiscard,  invaded  the  neighbouring  province  of 
Apulia,  these  English  axe-bearers  were  the  men  in  the  front 
of  the  imperial  army  to  meet  them.  The  Englishmen  made 
good  use  of  the  occasion.     Guiscard  was  defeated:  and  the 

*  Lib.  iv.  c.  5. 


THE  CONQUEST  IN  ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  PEOPLE.    291 

emperor  built  a  town  in  Ionia  for  the  accommodation  of  his  bookiil 

Anglo-Saxon  auxiliaries.     Subsequently,  Alexis    'recalled      

them  to  the  imperial  city,  and  committed  to  their  charge 
his  J)rincipal  palace,  and  his  royal  treasure.  In  this  way 
the  Anglo-Saxons  settled  in  Ionia,  they  and  their  posterity 
becoming  faithfully  attached  to  the  holy  empire,  and  having 
gained  great  honour  in  Thrace,  continue,'  says  Odericus, 
'  to  the  present  day  beloved  by  the  emperor,  senate,  and 
people.'  * 

On  the  suppression  of  the  insurrection  in  the  north,  fh^SIxln 
William  knew  that  the  time  had  come  when  it  would  be  ^  ^^^' 
safe  to  act  more  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  his  adhe- 
rents, if  not  with  his  own,  and  he  did  so.  We  have  seen 
something  of  the  freedom  with  which  the  property  of  the 
country  was  seized  and  distributed.  But  the  English  people 
w^ere  not  only  impoverished,  they  were  excluded  from  all 
offices,  except  the  lowest,  both  in  church  and  state.  Wil- 
liam alleged  that  they  were  not  to  be  trusted.  He  had  tried 
them,  and  found  them  faithless.  He  was  not  likely  to  see 
that  the  blame  in  this  matter  rested  more  with  himself  than 
with  the  objects  of  his  censure.  It  is  hard  to  confide  in 
the  unprincipled — harder  still  to  confide  in  the  injured. 
Certainly  the  king  could  not  say  that  the  Saxon  clergy  had 
betrayed  him.  If  fault  attached  to  them,  it  had  been  on 
the  side  of  a  too  ready  submission  to  his  will.  But  their 
subservience  did  not  suffice  to  protect  them  against  his  i 
rapacity  and  injustice.  He  robbed  their  churches  without 
scruple.  He  removed  their  dignitaries  simply  at  his  pleas- 
ure. Pretexts  were  soon  found  for  deposing  Stigand  from 
the  see  of  Canterbury,  and  his  treasures  were  divided 
between  the  queen,  the  king,  and  his  brother,  bishop  Odo, 
an  ecclesiastic  then  doing  military  service  at  Dover.  Tlie 
bishops  of  Wells  and  Sherborne  were  Frenchmen,  and  were 
allowed  to  retain  their  prelacies.  Alexander,  bishop  of 
Lincoln ;  Egalmar,  bishop  of  East  Anglia ;  and  Egelric, 
bishop  of  Sussex,  were  all  Saxons,  and  all  were  deprived  of 
their  office  and  possessions  without  even  the  pretence  of 
their  having  done  anything  to  warrant  such  a  proceeding. 

*  Ordericus,  lib  iv.  c.  3.     Fordun,  698.     Thierry,  ii.  2,  3. 


292  NOEMAIfS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^cnS  ^¥'  Egelwin,  bisliop  of  Durham,  shared  the  same  fate,  and  his 

last  act  before  going  into  exile,  was  to  pronounce  sentence 

of  excommunication  against  the  men  who  were  daily  plun- 
dering the  church  and  oppressing  the  people.*  Eldred,  the 
archbishop  of  York,  did  not  long  survive  the  ceremony  of 
crowning  the  new  king,  and  his  successor  was  of  course  a 
l^orman.  A  man  named  Remi,  of  Fechamp,  had  furnished 
the  Conqueror  with  sixty  boats,  and  in  payment  for  this  ser- 
vice he  was  first  presented  to  the  see  of  Dorchester,  and 
afterwards  to  that  of  Lincoln. 

This  last  instance  of  promotion  is  only  a  sample  of  the 
kind  of  traffic  which  obtained  everywhere  in  this  subju- 
gated country.  For  "William  had  gathered  about  him,  not 
only  a  host  of  nobles  and  knights,  with  their  retainers,  but 
a  large  body  of  ecclesiastical  adventurers,  who  had  learnt 
to  look  on  any  contribution  towards  the  expedition  against 
England  as  a  good  investment.  The  necessity  of  providing 
for  these  priestly  cormorants  was  hardly  less  imperative  than 
the  need  of  providing  for  the  military  class. 
Anglo  The  instance  of  royal  patronage  in  the  Anglo-l^orman 

dergy.  cliurch  Icast  opcu  to  cxccption,  was  the  promotion  of  Lan- 
franc  to  the  see  of  Canterbury.  Lahfranc  made  some  good 
appointments,  and  some  that  were  very  bad^ — the  latter 
being  made  probably  under  bad  influence.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  clergy  at  that  time  were  not  men  of  much  culture. 
But  there  was  not  a  body  of  men  of  more  piety,  or  of  more 
intelligence,  in  any  Teutonic  nation  of  that  age.  Slight  as 
their  learning  may  seem  to  have  been,  it  was  much  greater 
than  was  possessed  by  such  of  the  I^orman  clergy  before  the 
Conquest  as  can  be  shown  to  have  been  natives  of  ISTor- 
mandy.  The  pretence,  accordingly,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
clergy  were  removed  as  incompetent,  is  manifestly  false. 
The  plea  that  they  were  wanting  in  piety,  as  coming  from 
such  a  quarter,  was  a  piece  of  sheer  h^^ocrisy.  The  mar- 
tial prelates  who  came  in  with  the  Conquest  were  gazed 
upon  with  wonder  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  priesthood,  and  were 
a  sore  offence  to  their  simple  faith.  Their  eyes  had  never 
seen  the  like  before.     To  draw  a  sword  in  the  presence  of 

*  Matt.  "West.  an.  10*70.     Wendover,  ad  an. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN   ITS   KELATION   TO   THE  PEOPLE.        293 

an  Anglo-Saxon  bishop  was  to  incur  a  fine  as  lieavy  as  if  ^§25? 

it  had  been  drawn  in  the  presence  of  a  king.     By  the  new     

clergy,  the  monks  were  generally  expelled  from  their  an- 
cient homes  near  the  cathedrals.  Robert  of  Limoges,  who 
became  bishop  of  Lincoln,  doomed  the  monks  of  Coventry 
to  the  poorest  fare,  lest  the  good  condition  of  their  flesh 
should  prompt  them  to  insubordination.  The  books  also, 
to  be  accessible  to  them,  were  to  be  few  in  number,  and 
such  as  were  not  likely  to  give  them  high  notions.  To  test 
the  humility  of  this  ill-fated  fraternity,  the  bishop  seized 
their  horses,  robbed  them  of  their  furniture,  and  forcing 
his  way  into  their  dormitory,  broke  open  their  coffers,  and 
carried  away  all  he  found  there.'^  The  lust  of  the  bishop  of 
Hereford  cost  him  his  life.  He  fell  by  the  hand  of  a  woman 
to  whom  he  would  have  done  violence.f  While  some 
became  thus  notoriously  impure,  others  became  as  notori- 
ously gluttonous.  In  short,  covetousness  and  sensuality 
are  said  to  have  been  in  greater  excess  among  the  foreign 
ecclesiastics,  than  among  the  foreign  soldiers.  Of  course, 
as  we  have  intimated,  there  were  exceptions  to  this  course 
of  things,  but  such  was  the  general  complexion  of  the 
change  now  introduced. if 

Under  William  Rufus,  every  thing  in  the  church  became 
only  more  and  more  venal.  Henry  the  First  placed  a  con- 
siderable check  on  these  abuses  ;  but  during  the  reign  of 
Stephen,  the  confusion  and  lawlessness  which  prevailed, 
were  such  as  the  country  had  not  witnessed  since  the  dark- 
est times  in  the  history  of  the  Danish  invasions. 

It  is  not  easy  to  discover  the  real  condition  of  the  labour-  ^^f popu- 
ing  class  in  the  country,  or  of  the  artisan  class  in  the  towns,  ^^*^^"* 
during  this  period.     Information  becomes  more  available 

*  Anglia  Sacra,  455.     Lanfranci,  Opera  31.     Knyghton,  2352. 

f  Knyghton,  2348. 

~j(.  Wendover,  a.d.  1087.  Treheric,  the  abbot  of  St.  Albans,  chose  to  retire 
with  his  monks  from  that  place,  rather  than  continue  on  the  conditions  im- 
posed by  the  Conqueror.  Lanfranc  gave  the  abbey,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to 
a  Frenchman.  But  the  man  was  of  low  origin  and  mean  attainments,  and  the 
monks  introduced  by  him,  who  were  mostly  his  relations,  were  not  only 
grossly  ignorant,  but  addicted  to  vices  said  to  be  too  infamous  to  be  described. 
— Matt.  Paris,  Vitce  Ahbat.  51.  At  Christmas,  says  an  old  historian,  William 
kept  his  court  at  Gloucester,  and  gave  bishoprics  to  his  three  chaplains — Lon- 
don to  Maurice,  Norwich  to  William,  and  Chester  to  Robert. 


294  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSS.T'  on  this  subject  as  we  descend  to  tlie  thirteentli  and  four- 
teentli  centuries.  But  there  is  no  room  to  doubt  that  in 
this  earlier  time  the  agricultural  labour  of  the  country  was 
performed  largely  by  men  in  the  condition  of  serfs  or 
slaves ;  while  those  who  possessed  lands  as  tenants,  were 
generally  bound  to  render  services,  not  tmfrequently  of  a 
menial  description,  to  their  landlords,  either  in  person  or  by 
substitute. 

Serfs.  Tlie  condition  common  to  the  serf  population  was,  that 

they  could  acquire  no  right  to  property,  and  that  they  might 
be  sold  with  the  land,  or  separated  from  it,  according  to  the 
will  of  their  owners.  Persons  of  this  class  were  sometimes 
employed  in  domestic  service,  and  were  sometimes  allowed 
to  cultivate  a  few  acres  of  ground  for  themselves.  But  these 
circumstances  did  not  affect  their  condition  as  slaves.  Be- 
fore the  Conquest,  slaves  consisted  of  such  persons  bom  as 
slaves,  or  who  had  been  made  from  being  captives 
taken  in  war.  Often  the  chief,  or  the  only,  spoil  to  be  real- 
ized in  such  enterprises,  was  of  this  nature.  So  English 
slaves  became  common  in  the  families  of  Scotland,  and 
Scotch  slaves  in  the  families  of  England.  So  it  was  along 
the  Welsh  border.  But  the  Conquest,  by  putting  an  end 
comparatively  to  those  border  wars,  diminished  the  supply 
of  slaves.  We  have  no  reason  to  think  that  any  English- 
man became  a  slave  in  England  after  the  Conquest  other- 
wise than  by  birth,  or  by  his  own  act.  Hard,  no  doubt, 
was  the  condition  of  this  class  of  persons.  But  in  those 
days  there  was  no  poor-law.  Every  holder  of  slaves  was 
accounted  responsible  for  their  conduct,  and  for  his  own 
care  of  them.  His  own  interest  would  dispose  him  to  regu- 
late their  employment,  and  to  house  and  clothe,  and  feed 
them,  so  as  to  be  able  to  use  them  as  healthy  instruments 
of  labour.  ISTot  a  few  of  them  were  better  provided  for  than 
they  would  have  been  had  they  been  left  to  themselves ; 
though  the  little  we  know  concerning  the  dwellings,  the  fur- 
niture, and  the  clothing  of  the  population  a  degree  above 
the  serf,  suggest  no  pleasant  conclusion  in  regard  to  the 
comforts  in  these  respects  of  the  humbler  classes  generally. 
Some  lords,  and  still  more  those  who  acted  for  them,  would 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS    RELATION   TO   THE   PEOPLE.        295 

often,  we  fear,  be  hard  masters  ;  but  tliere  would  be  many  book  in. . 

checks  upon  such  tendencies,  and  not  the  least  was  the  con-     

stant  protest  against  them  on  the  part  of  the  monasteries, 
in  their  frequent  manumission,  and  generaUy  humane  treat- 
ment, of  their  bondsmen. 

In  the  twelfth  century  there  was  a  great  increase  of  the  J^^ee^^^ 
free  tenants — men  who  sowed  for  their  lord  in  the  sowing 
season,  and  reaped  for  him  in  the  reaping  season,  either  in 
person  or  by  deputy,  but  whose  services  of  this  kind  were 
defined  and  settled,  and  who  were  otherwise  free.  The 
extensive  lands  of  Battle  Abbey  were  generally  held  on  this 
tenure.  Townsmen  and  countrymen  stood  in  a  relation  of 
this  sort  to  that  establishment.  In  all  accounts  of  English 
property,  from  the  twelfth  century  downwards,  there  is  a 
careful  mention  of  the  number  of  persons  of  this  description 
connected  with  it.  Fish,  bread,  and  beer  are  mentioned 
as  allowed  to  the  serf.  He  might  also  taste  his  lord's  mut- 
ton, but  it  was  only  on  certain  days.^ 

While  the  mass  of  the  population  settled  gradually  into 
a  life  of  this  description,  there  were  those  who  could  not 
submit  to  it.  Men  of  courage,  skilled  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms, fled  to  the  fens  and  forests,  formed  themselves  into 
companies,  and  were  bold  and  ingenious  in  levying  contri- 
butions on  the  ]^orman,  as  the  JSTorman  had  levied  them  on 
the  Saxon.  By  these  outlaws,  who  beset  all  the  public 
ways,  the  invaders  were  often  relieved  of  their  ill-gotten 
treasures,  and  their  bodies  left  to  be  buried  by  such  of  their 
own  race  as  had  survived  them.  So  long  as  hostilities  could 
be  sustained  even  on  this  scale,  there  were  men  who  could 
dream  of  better  days. 

The  great  gathering  place  to  spirits  of  this  order  was  the  ^^^jj^? '^ 
Isle  of  Ely.    To  the  marsh  and  reed  lands  of  that  part  of  the  ^^  ^^y- 
kingdom,  many  of  the  fugitive  Saxons  fled,  a&  affording 
them  their  best  means   of  safety.     What  the  mountains 
were  to  the  Welsh,  these  fen  lands  were  to  the  Saxons  of 
East  Anglia,  and  of  some  other  districts.     The  Isle  of  Ely, 

*  Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey.  The  name  of  '  villein '  was  applied  to  those 
whom  we  have  thus  ventured  to  describe  as  free  tenants :  their  condition  was 
at  a  wide  remove  from  that  of  the  serf.     Eden's  State  of  the  Poor,   bk.  i.  c.  1. 


296  NOEMANS   Al^^D  ENGLISH. 

^c?S  s""  ^^  consequence,  became  known  among  the  natives  by  the 

name  of  the  Camp  of  Refuge.     Among  those  who  fled 

thither  there  were  some  men  of  the  highest  rank — such  as 
Stigand,  the  late  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  Egelwin,  the 
late  bishop  of  Durham  ;  and  the  earls  Edwin  and  Morcar. 
The  bishops  returned  thither  from  their  exile  in  Scotland ; 
and  the  earls,  escaping  from  their  durance  at  court,  sought 
an  asylum  in  that  quarter,  in  the  hope  that  the  Saxon  arm 
might  still  prove  strong  enough  for  its  own  deliverance.* 

Fate  of  the         But  in  Elv  Morcar  listened  a  third  time  to  the  crafty 

Allgars.  "^        ,     ,  ^  «^ 

overtures  of  William.  He  had  scarcely  left  the  island, 
when  the  snare  into  which  he  had  fallen  became  manifest. 
He  was  seized  and  placed  in  irons.  It  was  the  lot  of  Mor- 
car to  look  through  the  gratings  of  his  IS'orman  prison  long 
enough  to  see  a  generation  pass  away.f  Edwin,  whose 
affection  for  his  brother  was  ardent,  perished  in  his  attempt 
to  avenge  and  liberate  him.  Two  traitors  conspired  to 
betray  him.  He  died  defending  himself  with  much  heroism 
against  great  odds.  His  head  was  sent  as  a  trophy  to  the 
king.  Lucy,  a  sister  of  the  earls,  survived  them.  Pier  fate 
may  be  taken  as  an  instance  of  that  which  awaited  not  a 
few  Saxon  women  in  her  circumstances.  She  was  com- 
pelled to  marry  one  of  the  race  who  had  become  known  to 
her  only  as  the  plunderers  and  murderers  of  her  nearest  kin- 
dred.:]: 

Ives  Ta;lle-bois,  to  whom  this  lady  was  assigned,  fixed 
his  residence  on  a  portion  of  the  ample  domains  which  thus 
fell  to  him  near  Ely.  The  accounts  given  of  this  man  de- 
pict him  as  coarse,  brutal,  fiendish — oppressing,  torturing, 
and  destroying  the  people  about  him,  and  often  without 
any  apparent  cause  beyond  the  pleasure  which  he  seemed 
to  find  in  such  employment.  Such  was  the  husband  given 
to  the  daughter  of  the  once  powerful  earl  Alfgar.  Not  far 
from  Taille-bois's  residence  was  a  colony  of  Saxon  monks, 
from  the  neighbouring  abbey  of  Croyland.     His  conduct 

*  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  10*71.     Anglia  Sacra,  ii.  610.     Wendover,  a.d.  1070. 

f  Chron.  Sax.  a.d.  1087. 

X  Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  4,  7.  The  king  affected  great  sorrow  when  the 
head  of  carl  Edwin  was  brought  to  him.  He  gave  command  on  his  death-bed 
for  the  liberation  of  Morcar,  but  Rufus  did  not  heed  the  injunction. — Chron. 
Sax.  A.D.  1087.     Monast.  Anglic,  i.  306. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN  ITS  RELATION   TO  THE  PEOPLE.       297 

towards  those  defenceless  men  was  atrocious.    Everything  book  iil 

they  could  do  to  appease  his  monster  passions  was  done,     

but  in  vain.  Al;^ length  they  left  the  place,  shaking  off  the 
dust  of  their  feet  against  their  oppressor.*  Taille-bois  took 
possession  of  the  building,  and  of  the  lands  belonging  to  it, 
and  gave  them  to  a  company  of  monks  whom  he  imported 
from  his  native  town  in  Anjou.  The  abbot  of  Croyland 
laid  this  whole  case  before  the  king  and  his  council.  But 
the  expelled  monks  were  Saxons,  the  abbot  chanced  to  be 
a  Saxon,  and  the  suit  was  disregarded.f 

It  was  in  those  fen  countries  that  Hereward,  the  most  „ 

Hereward 

famous  among  the  earlier  Saxon  outlaws,  distinguished  him-  *^®  outlaw, 
self.  Hereward  was  the  son  of  Leofric,  lord  of  Bourne  in 
Lincolnshire.  He  had  been  disinherited  by  the  I^Tormans. 
But  he  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to  the  spoliation.  Call- 
ing his  kinsmen  and  friends  together,  he  dislodged  the  new 
occupants  of  his  lands,  and  defended  them  bravely  against 
the  'castle-men'  in  his  neighbourhood.  The  natives  ap- 
plauded his  achievements,  sang  ballads  in  his  praise,  often 
in  the  ears  of  the  ISTormans,  who  spoke  French,  but  knew 
little  of  English. 

'Not  far  from  the  lands  of  Hereward  was  the  abbey  of 
Croyland,  and  the  Isles  of  Ely  and  Thorney — the  seat  of  the 
Camp  of  Eefuge.  The  fugitives  in  that  camp  invited  Here- 
ward to  become  their  leader.  For  this  purpose  he  was  in- 
vested with  due  military  rank,  according  to  the  forms  of 
that  age.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  a  ISTorman  abbot, 
named  Torauld,  was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  abbey  of 
Peterborough.  This  ecclesiastic  began  his  journey  towards 
Peterborough  under  a  strong  military  escort.  But  Hereward 
and  his  followers  visited  the  monastery  before  him ;  and 
finding  that  the  monks  were  not  likely  to  resist  their  new 
superior,  the  outlaw  seized  all  the  valuables  that  could  be 
discovered,  and  bore  them  to  his  camp.:}: 

Taille-bois,  now  Yiscount  Spalding,  invited  Torauld  to 

*  Wendover,  a.d  1070. 

+  Ingulph.  Hist.  Croy.  902.     Wendover,  a.d.  1085. 

X  Citron.  Sax.  a.d.  1070.  Wendover.  Ingulph.  899  et  seq.  Chronicon 
Anglice  Petrihurgense. 


298  NOBMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^c£S.  a^  join  liim  in  an  expedition  against  Hereward:  The  timid 
policy  of  the  abbot  and  his  men-at-arms  ended  in  their  being 
surprised  and  taken  prisoners.  The  ransom  of  the  ecclesias- 
tic came  as  a  welcome  contribution  to  the  exchequer  of  the 
camp.  The  Kormans  now  made  a  grand  effort  against  the 
fastness  of  the  Saxons  in  Ely.  A  pathway — half  bridge, 
half  road — was  constructed  over  marsh,  and  reeds,  and  lake, 
so  as  to  reach  the  shore  of  the  island.  Taille-bois,  who,  like 
all  other  men  of  his  sort,  had  more  faith  in  a  devil  than  in 
a  divinity,  bid  a  famous  witch  ascend  a  tower  raised  by  his 
workmen,  and  hurl  her  incantations  thence  against  the 
Saxons.  Hereward,  little  moved  by  such  terrors,  set  fire 
to  the  reeds  and  dry  materials  of  the  place,  which  brought 
destruction  on  the  sorceress,  and  on  many  of  the  IS^ormans 
as  they  were  advancing  to  the  attack  under  her  protection. 
After  months  of  resistance — resistance  fertile  in  stratagem 
and  in  displays  of  bravery — certain  monks,  weary  of  their 
state  of  inquietude  and  privation,  apprised  the  l^ormans  of 
a  secret  path  to  their  retreat.  By  the  treachery  of  those 
men  of  peace  a  thousand  Saxon  lives  were  sacrificed.  But 
Hereward  escaped,  and  lived  to  gladden  the  heart  of  m^ny 
a  Saxon  by  his  successes.* 
iS  ^  £  "^^^^  destruction  or  dispersion  of  the  men  w^ho  foi*med 

the  last  the  Camp  of  Befuge  belongs  to  the  year  1071.  One  Saxon 
noble.  layman  only  then  remained  as  a  man  of  place  and  power. 
This  man  was  the  earl  Waltheof.  Waltheof  had  made  his 
peace  with  the  king,  and  William  had  given  this  chief  his 
niece  Judith  in  marriage.  In  1074,  Bobert,  earl  of  Here- 
ford, and  other  discontented  ]N"ormans,  conspired  against 
William,  during  his  occupation  with  an  unsettled  state  of  his 
affairs  in  K'ormandy.  The  secret  was  disclosed  to  Wal- 
theof, in  the  hope  of  securing  his  adherence.  Waltheof 
declined  being  a  party  to  the  plot,  but  promised  not  to 
betray  the  confidence  which  had  been  reposed  in  him 
by  divulging  it.      He  was  afterwards  accused  of    having 

*  Wendover  says  that  '  Hereward,  so  long  as  he  lived,  practised  all  sorts 
of  stratagems  against  king  William.' — a.d.  1071.  The  same  writer  adds,  that 
the  construction  in  the  marshes  *is  called  by  the  people  of  the  province  to 
this  day,  Ilereward's  fort.'  The  Saxon  Ghro7iicle  describes  the  bridge  con- 
structed by  the  king  to  reach  the  Isle  of  Ely  as  two  miles  in  length. — a.d.  lOYl. 
Contin.  Ingulfs  125. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   PEOPLE.        299 

beon  privy  to  these  proceedings,  and  of  having  invited  the  ^^^  ni. 
Danes  to  aid  the  conspirators.  The  latter  point  in  this  — - 
charge  was  probably  ill-founded.  In  the  failure  of  all  other 
evidence,  his  Norman  wife  became  his  accuser.  He  was 
condemned,  and  the  parties  who  were  coveting  his  large  es- 
tates became  possessed  of  them.  But  during  twelve  months 
his  judges  were  divided  concerning  the  sentence  that  should 
be   pronounced  upon  him — whether  the  loss  of  his  head,  ^ 

as  proper  to  a  mere  Saxon  rebel,  or  imprisonment  only,  the 
heaviest  punishment  that  could  be  inflicted  on  a  Norman 
noble.  In  the  end,  the  iniquitous  decision  was,  that  the 
rank  which  would  have  served  him  as  a  Norman  should 
not  serve  him  as  an  Englishman.  He  was  beheaded,  in  a 
suburb  of  Winchester,  early  in  the  morning,  and  almost 
secretly,  for  fear  of  the  people.  The  Saxons  mourned  him  as 
a  patriot  and  a  saint.  His  body  was  first  laid  beneath  a 
cross-road.  It  was  afterwards  interred  at  Croyland.  Dur- 
ing many  generations  the  English  made  pilgrimages  to  his 
tomb,  and  were  persuaded  that  miracles  had  been  wrought 
there.  The  Norman  ecclesiastics  often  sneered  at  these  devo- 
tions of  the  people,  and  derided  them  as  an  imbecile  attempt 
to  convert  a  traitor  into  a  martyr.* 

It  is  probable  that  there  was  a  time  when  William 
meant  to  have  spared  the  life  of  Waltheof.  But  his  conduct 
toward  the  Saxon  nobles  generally,  seems  to  have  been  in- 
tended to  secure  to  himself  the  advantage  of  an  apparent 
moderation,  while  in  reality  the  doom  awaiting  his  victims 
was  only  postponed.  There  were  many  things  in  respect  to 
which  this  bad  man  had  learnt  to  account  slowness  as  sure- 
ness. 

William  attempted  to  dispose  of  Judith  a  second  time  condition 
in  marriage  ;  but  the  man  was  lame,  and  she  resisted  the  women, 
choice.  Whereupon,  she  was  stripped  of  her  possessions, 
and  in  the  poverty  and  neglect  to  which  she  was  reduced, 
the  Saxons  saw  the  just  punishment  of  her  evil  deed.  Tliis 
arbitrary  disposal  of  women  was  a  Norman  custom — to 
English  females  of  the  better  class  it  was  the  source  of  in- 

*  Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  Y,  14,  15.  Malms,  lib.  iii.  Wendover,  a.d.  1075. 
Ingulf,  Croy.  903.     Fordun,  iii.  510. 


300 


NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  8. 


Last  form 
of  Saxon 
resistance. 


Change,  in 
the  feeling 
of  the 
English  in 
regard  to 
law  and 
govern- 
ment 


calculable  suffering.  The  stipulations  of  the  Norman  adven- 
turers had  respect  to  women  as  well  as  to  estates. 

When  the  last  Saxon  chief  was  disposed  of  at  Winches- 
ter, the  ]N"ormans  had  little  to  fear  from  the  natives  in  the 
open  field.*  Mention  is  made,  indeed,  some  sixty  years 
later,  of  |ta  conspiracy  to  massacre  the  Normans  throughout 
all  England  on  a  given  day  and  hour.  Tlie  secret  is  said 
to  have  transpired,  as  usual,  through  the  confessional. 
IVfany  perished,  but  the  leaders  escaped.  It  may  be  that 
there  was  a  Saxon  conspiracy  in  1127,  but  it  appears  to 
have  been  greatly  magnified  by  the  fears,  or  more  probably 
by  the  policy,  of  the  Normans. f  The  Saxon  Chronicle^ 
William  of  Malmesbury,  and  other  writers,  who  were  most 
likely  to  have  recorded  such  an  event,  are  silent  concerning 
it.  If  there  was  anything  approaching  to  a  wide  organiza- 
tion against  the  invaders  at  that  time,  it  is  to  be  marked  as 
the  only  movement  of  that  nature  after  the  dispersion  of 
the  camp  at  Ely.  Subsequently  to  that  dispersion,  the  only 
form  in  which  the  Normans  might  apprehend  danger,  was 
when  travelling  alone,  or  in  small  companies,  especially  in 
the  north  of  England.  When  their  path  chanced  to  lie 
through  the  forest,  along  the  unfrequented  road,  or  across 
the  marsh  or  the  mountain,  it  became  them  to  be  watchful. 
William  had  converted  Yorkshire  into  a  desert ;  but  in  so 
doing  he  had  done  less  to  awaken  loyalty,  than  to  create 
a  home  for  the  outlaw.  During  two  centuries  from  that 
time,  no  Norman  king  ventured  into  those  parts  without  the 
safeguard  of  an  army. 

It  was  the  natural  effect  of  the  Conquest,  that  men 
should  learn  to  see  the  spirit  of  the  patriot  in  the  deeds  of 
such  men.  Life  spent  in  watching  to  seize  the  persons  and 
the  substance  of  the  castle-men  as  a  prey,  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  brave  and  virtuous.  The  orders  of  the  govern- 
ment were,  that  such  bands  should  be  hunted  down  as 
wolves.  But  multitudes  who  were  themselves  submissive, 
applauded  in  their  heart  the  men  who  were  bold  enough  to 
defy  the  oj)pressor.  The  law  might  denounce  such  men  as 
robbers,  murderers,  and  traitors,  but  it  availed  nothing — 


*  Ordericus,  lib.  iv.  c.  3,  4.  f  Ordericus,  912.     Thierry,  bk.  vii. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   TIIE   PEOPLE.        301 

the  people  did  not  speak  of  them  in  such  terms.    ISTo  ballads  book  iii 

were  so  popular  as  those  which  described  the  feats  of  forest-     

men  in  capturing  portly  abbots  and  wealthy  prelates,  bold 
knights  and  proud  nobles,  and  as  replenishing  their  coffers 
by  the  ransom.  In  the  popular  feeling,  high  honour  was 
awarded  to  the  adventurous  spirits  who  shared  among  them 
the  spoils  of  the  neighbouring  baron  without  the  leave  of 
his  retainers,  or  fed  on  the  king's  venison  in  defiance  of  the 
king's  laws.  Eich  was  the  glee  with  which  they  told  of 
the  merry  freebooter,  how  he  eluded  the  horsemen  of  the 
sheriff,  wormed  out  his  secret  when  most  vain  of  his  skill  in 
concealing  it,  and  caught  him  when  least  suspicious  in  his 
own  snare.  So  it  came  to  pass  that  men  were  accounted 
the  purest  lovers  of  their  country  who  were '  the  boldest  in 
resisting  its  authorities.  When  injustice  comes  into  the 
place  of  justice,  it  is  natural  that  the  sense  of  duty  should 
thus  change.  The  first  l^orman  king,  as  we  all  know, 
cleared  the  soil  of  Hampshire  of  its  inhabitants  over  a  space 
of  thirty  miles,  to  create  his  great  deer  forest ;  and  if  he  did 
not  punish  a  violation  of  his  forest  laws  with  death,  it  was 
from  no  feeling  of  humanity,  but  because  he  accounted  the 
loss  of  eyes  or  limbs  a  more  protracted,  admonitory,  and  ter- 
rible punishment  than  hanging.  The  wild  king,  says  the 
old  chronicler,  loved  wild  beasts  as  though  he  had  been  the 
father  of  them.* 

The  successors  of  Hereward  in  East  Anglia  and  beyond 
the  Humber,  were  never  men  in  a  condition  to  be  allowed 
to  hope  that  it  would  ever  be  in  their  power  to  oppose  any 
really  formidable  resistance  to  the  rule  of  the  Norman. 
They  were  simply  men,  for  the  most  part,  whom  lawlessness 
had  forced  into  lawlessness.  But  considerable  bands  of  such 
men  kept  their  footing  in  those  districts  for  many  genera- 
tions. To  rob  the  Normans  was  to  spoil  the  Egyptians, 
nothing  more.f 

*  Wendov.  ad  an.  1086. 

f  The  forests  in  the  province  of  York  were  the  haunt  of  a  numerous  band 
of  this  description,  who  had  for  their  chief,  or  prince  (as  the  original  history 
expresses  it),  a  man  named  Swan.  In  the  central  parts  of  the  kingdom  also, 
and  near  London,  even  under  the  walls  of  the  Norman  castles,  various  bodies 
of  such  men  existed.  They  consisted  {say  the  old  writers)  of  men  who,  re- 
jecting slavery  to  the  last,  made  the  desert  their  asylum. — Thierry,  bk.  v. 
Hist.  Monas.  Selebiensis  apv.d  Biblioth.  Lahhcei^  603. 


302  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^ch5.  s""  ^^^  ^^^^^  *^^®  western  sides  of  the  Yorkshire  hills  with- 
cu^b^  ^^t  the  signs  of  such  popular  feeling  any  more  than  the 
iiwi*''*'  eastern.  Ballads  have  perpetuated  the  memory  of  Adam 
Bel,  of  Clym  of  the  Clough  (Clement  of  the  Yalley),  and  of 
William  Cloudesley,  as  men  who  in  those  parts  became 
heroes,  in  the  popular  estimation,  by  becoming  outlaws. 
These  men  were  all  natives  of  Cumberland.  They  had 
offended  against  the  l^orman  chase  laws.  By  so  doing  they 
had  forfeited  the  protection  of  all  law.  Sharing  in  common 
in  this  alleged  crime,  and  in  its  consequences,  they  bound 
themselves  to  be  one  in  all  things.  Thus  solemnly  pledged, 
they  betook  them  to  the  forest  of  Inglewood,  or  English- 
wood,  which  lay  between  Penrith  and  Carlisle.  They  baffled 
their  persecutors,  and  made  themselves  formidable.  In  the 
view  of  the  people,  they  were  bold  and  generous  men,  pre- 
pared to  brave  all  things,  so  they  might  be  free,  leaving  it 
to  others  to  brave  nothing,  and  to  be  slaves. 

Cloudesley  had  a  wife  and  children  in  Carlisle.  Bel 
and  Clym  had  no  such  ties.  After  long  absence,  the  mar- 
ried man  spoke  of  longing  for  one  more  sight  of  those  dear 
to  him.  His  companions  warned  him  of  danger,  but  with- 
out effect.  Cloudesley  finds  his  way  into  the  city  by  night. 
An  old  woman  whom  he  had  befriended  in  former  days, 
detects  him,  and  gives  information  against  him.  The  out- 
law, to  the  no  small  joy  of  the  authorities,  is  torn  from  the 
arms  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  a  new  gallows  is  forth- 
with reared  in  the  market-place  for  his  execution.  But  a 
swineherd  boy,  who  had  often  seen  the  doomed  man  in 
Inglewood  forest,  and  received  kindness  from  him,  learns 
what  is  passing,  and  hastes  to  apprise  Bel  and  Clym  of 
what  is  about  to  happen.  The  two  resolve  that  Cloudesley 
shall  be  saved,  or  the  three  will  die  together.  They  de- 
spatch the  porter  at  the  town  gate,  and  by  stratagem  and 
courage,  they  so  fall  upon  the  authorities  at  the  place  of 
execution,  as  to  rescue  their  brother,  killing  the  judge,  the 
sheriff,  and  many  more.  The  poet  recounts  these  death- 
blows in  a  spirit  which  shows  that  the  people  were  expected 
to  shout  applause  as  they  listened  to  the  tale.* 

*  Percy  Relics^  iii.     Jaraieson's  Ancient  Popular  Songs. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   PEOPLE.        303 

But  the  man  wlio  became  the  representative  of  this  Eng-  B90K  in. 
lish  feeling  beyond  all  other  men  in  those  times,  was  the     — -' 
ffimoiis  Robin  Hood.     The  history  of   this  popular  hero  ^^ood. 
belongs  to  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century.    Even  in  York- 
shire, we  find  some  traces  of  him,  in  the  places  which  bear 
the  name  of  Robin  Hood's  bay,  and  Robin  Hood's  well. 
But  the  forest  of  Sherwood,  or  sire-wode^  which  was  his 
home,  stretched  in  those  days  from  the  centre  of  Yorkshire 
to  the  town  of  IsTottingham.    Through  more  than  a  century, 
Sherwood  forest  was  the  great  castle  of  the  Saxon.     There, 
at  least,  the  l^ormans  could  be  defied,  and  kept  at  bay.     It 
is  with  that  portion  of  this  fastness  which  covered  a  large 
part  of  the  midland  counties,  that  the  .exploits  of  Robin 
Hood  are  mostly  associated. 

Discarding  many  contradictory  accounts  relating  to  his 
supposed  origin  and  end,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  this 
outlaw  king  attracted  to  himself  some  hundreds  of  armed 
men,  whose  bows  and  swords  made  them  the  terror  of  all 
E'orman  ofiicials  in  their  neighbourhood,  whether  in  church 
or  state  ;  that  the  industrious,  the  widow,  and  the  poor  had 
never  anything  to  fear  from  the  approach  of  Robin  or 
his  men ;  that  his  heart  was  the  stoutest  heart  of  all  his 
band,  as  his  bow  was  the  strongest  and  the  truest  bow  ;  that 
next  to  him  came  his  man  Little  John,  who  is  always  at  his 
side,  be  the  face  of  fortune  what  it  may ;  that  with  these 
two,  lionourable  ]3lace  was  given  to  Mutch,  the  miller's  son, 
to  old  Scathlocke,  and  to  the  militant  Friar  Tuck,  with  his 
terrible  quarter-staif ;  that  these  merry  woodsmen  never 
killed,  except  in  self-defence  ;  and  that  nothing  was  farther 
from  their  thoughts  than  making  themselves  rich — their 
one  concern  being  to  rectify  some  bad  differences  which 
had  grown  up  of  late,  by  taking  from  the  oppressor  and 
giving  to  the  oppressed,  and  by  moderating  the  excesses  of 
the  proud  and  the  wealthy,  in  favour  of  the  humble  and  the 
poor.  Hence  this  robber  king  was,  in  his  way,  very  religious 
— a  Saturday  spent  in  seizures  on  the  highway,  being  fol- 
lowed by  a  Sunday  spent  with  scrupulous  devoutness  at  • 
church.  Robin's  hostilities  were  especially  directed  against 
the  sheriff,  or  count,  of  Nottingham,  in  whom  the  military 


304  NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^ci?^."^'  P^wer  of  tlie  district  was  vested.  All  possible  means  were 
resorted  to  for  the  apprehension  of  this  man.  Many  were 
his  perils,  bnt  many  were  his  escapes  and  deliverances.  In 
all  his  dangers  warm  hearts  symj)athized  with  him,  and  did 
what  they  could  to  serve  him — in  all  his  successes  they 
shouted  for  joy.* 

ory^ate-  Wlicu  the  day  of  Kobin  Hood  had  passed,  the  people 

EngUsh.^  instituted  seasons  of  holiday  to  his  memory.  For  centuries, 
no  occasion  of  popular  pageantry  and  festival  was  so  full 
of  mirth,  as  that  which  commemorated  the  forest  king,  and 
the  merry  men  who  did  his  free  and  righteous  bidding. 
The  many  associations  of  '  Foresters  '  still  existing  among 
us,  owe  their  origin  to  that  inextinguishable  feeling  of  Saxon 
nationality  which  prevailed  thus  under  our  earlier  J^orman 
kings.  Even  so  late  as  the  time  of  Chaucer,  we  find  the 
story  of  Gamelyn,  the  '  Cook's  Tale,'  breathing  the  Eobin 
Hood  spirit  throughout.  Its  great  feature  is  contempt  of 
the  law,  and  war  with  those  who  uphold  and  administer  it ; 
and  the  reader  is  expected  to  applaud  the  hero  when  he 
hangs  the  judge  in  the  place  of  the  alleged  culprit.  The 
ruling  class  is  accounted  alien,  and  right  and  humanity  are 
supposed  to  be  on  the  side  of  resistance.  Even  in  the  days 
of  Henry  YI.  the  name  of  the  great  '  north  country '  man, 
Redesdale,  is  connected  with  the  traces  of  this  old  English 
anti-Korman  spirit,  as  still  living  beyond  the  Humber. 

Eetrospcct.  We  scc,  tlicu,  that  the  effect  of  the  IS'orman  Conquest  in 
relation  to  the  English  people  was  to  deprive  them  of  pro- 
perty and  place — of  possessions  and  of  political  existence. 
But  the  wrong  and  insult  heaped  upon  them  did  not  con- 
vert them  all  into  willing  slaves.  Cast  down,  they  were 
not  destroyed.  Nor  was  their  spirit  broken.  "We  see  this 
in  part  in  the  defiance  of  wrong  by  individual  men,  and 
by  small  bands  of  men,  but  much  more  in  that  wide  and 
fervent  sympathy  which  the  career  of  such  men  is  seen  to 
call  forth.  That  there  were  men  in  those  days  disposed  to 
resort  to  such  modes  of  life,  is  not  a  fact  of  much  historical 
significance— but  that  the  character  of  the  men  in  this  case 

*  Jameson's  Popular  Sonffs,  ii.     Vercfs  Relics  of  Ancient  Poetry.     Ellis's 
Metrical  Romances, 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION  TO  THE  PEOPLE.        305 

should  be  such  as  it  is,  and  that  the  whole  Saxon  population  book  hi. 
should  have  become  so  outspoken  in  its  admiration  of  them,  — - 
these  are  facts  which  the  historian  who  would  write  an  in- 
telligible history  of  England  must  not  overlook.  The  Anglo- 
Saxons,  rude  and  warlike  as  they  may  have  been,  had  much 
to  do,  or  supposed  they  had,  both  with  the  making  and  with 
the  administration  of  their  laws,  and  were  always  distin- 
guished by  their  respect  for  law.  It  is  not  until  the  Nor- 
man lawlessness  comes  in,  that  some  of  them  are  content  to 
become  outlaws,  and  that  the  popular  feeling  comes  to  be 
everywhere  in  favour  of  such  men. 

How  this  feeling  came  to  make  its  way,  ere  long,  from 
the  lower  stratum  of  society  to  the  higher,  will  be  matter 
for  inquiry  elsewhere.  In  this  place,  the  reader  has  to  look 
on  the  country  we  call  England  as  the  home  of  two  races, 
distinct  frmn  each  other,  and  antagonistic  to  each  other. 
The  ISTormans  consist  of  nobles  and  knights,  with  followers 
and  fair  dames.'  They  have  their  homes  in  castles  fenced 
about  with  moats  and  bridges.  The  battlements  and  turrets 
of  those  structures,  and  the  proud  standards  which  float 
above  them,  are  seen  rising  over  the  forest  trees  in  the  dis- 
tant valley,  or  along  the  mountain  side.  Within  those 
frowning  walls,  such  brilliancy  as  the  wealth  of  those  days 
could  command  gradually  makes  its  appearance— decorated 
halls,  gay  minstrels,  the  banquet  and  the  tournament.  •  The 
language  spoken  is  French,  the  taste  and  manners  are 
French,  the  whole  pageant  is  from  another  land — it  is  not 
the  birth  of  this  land.  Its  outward  form,  its  inner  life,  are* 
foreign.  To  find  the  old  language,  the  old  blood,  the  old 
thought  and  feeling  and  usage  of  the  land,  you  have  to 
leave  the  ISTorman  castle,  and  to  descend  to  the  town  dwel- 
ling, or  to  the  country  homestead  of  the  Saxon.  Some  few 
of  those  homes,  in  borough,  town,  or  upland  district,  may 
bespeak  moderate  comfort,  and  may  seem  to  say  that  there 
will  be  wealth  there  some  day.  More  are  of  a  humbler  sort, 
where  all  within  is  only  too  much  like  what  is  seen  with- 
out. But  at  those  fire  sides  the  talk  is  often  of  the  days 
when  the  speech  of  the  Saxon  was  that  of  the  hall  of  the 
noble,  and  of  the  palace  of  the  king — of  the  time  when  the 
Vol.  I.— 20 


towns. 


306  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSS  "^*  •'^^^  ^^^  governed  Englislimen  were  of  their  own  true  kin- 

dred,  and  when  their  common  blood  did  mnch  to  dictate 

kindly  offices  beween  the  ruling  and  the  ruled.  Every  new 
injury  brings  back  the  memory  or  the  tradition  of  those 
old  days,  and  prompts  the  oppressed  to  heap  his  maledic- 
tion on  the  iron  cruelty  of  the  oppressor,  or,  it  may  be,  to 
think  of  the  brave  Alfred,  and  of  the  good  king  Edward, 
and  to  pray  for  deliverance.  !N6r  did  such  men  pray  in 
vain. 
of  How  soon  our  Anglo-Norman  kings  began  to  strengthen 

their  position  by  granting  special  charters  to  English  towns, 
is  a  somewhat  obscure  question.  The  kings  of  France  and 
of  Scotland  began  to  act  on  this  policy  early  in  the  eleventh 
century  ;  and  when  Glanvil  wrote,  which  was  under  Henry 
n.,  the  liberties  of  the  free  boroughs  in  England  were  such, 
that  if  a  bondsman  .sought  a  home  in  one  of  them,  and  con- 
tinued unclaimed  for  a  day  and  a  year,  he  became  free. 
In  the  Anglo-Saxon  times,  the  business  of  the  tradesman 
and  merchant  was  subject  to  many  vexatious  regulations. 
Tlie  freedom  of  the  free  boroughs  after  the  Conquest,  con- 
sisted in  liberty  to  buy  and  sell  free  from  such  impedi- 
ments ;  in  the  exemption  of  traders  as  such  from  certain 
tolls  and  exactions ;  in  the  right  of  the  townspeople  to 
choose  their  own  officers  to  regulate  their  own  local  affairs, 
and  to  possess  their  own  keys  ;  and  in  the  subjection  of  the 
place  to  the  crown,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  interference  from 
the  feudal  lords  of  the  district.  In  the  transactions  between 
the  barons  and  prelates,  and  John,  earl  of  Moreton,  after- 
wards king  John,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  citizens  of  London 
on  the  other  side,  relating  to  the  deposition  of  Hubert  the 
Justiciar,  the  negotiations  are  clearly  as  between  two  dis- 
tinct and  independent  powers,  and  the  course  to  be  taken 
is  upon  grounds  mutually  determined.  Towards  such  a 
course  the  affairs  of  towns  had  long  been  tending  through 
the  kingdom  at  large.  In  the  leading  towns,,  the  different 
trades  and  '  mysteries '  were  formed  into  guilds,  which  were 
all  of  them  the  objects  of  special  protection  and  privilege. 
The  revenue  and  the  power  of  our  kings  were  greatly  aug- 
mented from  these  sources.    Among  the  commodities  fairly 


THE   CONQUEST   IX    ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   PEOPLE.        30T 

purchased  by  these  ancient  burgesses  were  their  liberties —  book  iil 
a  commodity  not  to  be  taken  from  them-'  

*  Brady  On  Boroughs.  Rolls  and  Records,  Introd.  §  xxxi.  The  municipal 
history  of  France,  and  of  the  south  of  Europe,  differs  considerably  from  our 
own.  In  those  countries  the  old  Roman  cities  were  more  or  less  perpetuated 
through  all  the  changes  which  came  with  the  fall  of  the  empire.  It  was  not 
so  with  us.     See  Thierry's  Tiers  Etat  and  his  Essays. 

Lord  Macaulay's  brilliant  eulogy  on  the  character  of  the  Normans  is  an 
extraordinary  piece  of  composition  in  more  respects  than  one.  In  regard  to 
military  discipline  and  efficiency,  and  the  qualities  which  that  efficiency  may 
be  supposed  to  imply,  the  Normans  were,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  very 
much  as  his  lordship  has  described  them.  But,  among  the  many  other  points 
embraced  in  his  lordship's  description,  there  is  hardly  one  to  which  strong  ex- 
ception may  not  be  taken.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  description,  for  the  most  part,  that 
does  not  apply  to  the  Normans  in  Normandy  at  all,  nor  to  the  Normans  in 
England  until  we  descend  to  the  third  or  fourth  generation  after  the  Conquest, 
and  only  partially  even  then.  How  the  Normans  came  to  be  the  men  they 
were  when  they  had  been  thus  long  naturalized  in  England,  and  not  before,  is 
a  question  of  some  interest,  and  not  to  be  readily  answered. 

Describing  the  Normans  before  the  Conquest,  Lord  Macaulay  says,  they 
found  the  language  of  Normandy  '  a  barbarous  jargon ;  they  fixed  it  in  writ- 
ing ;  and  they  employed  it  in  legislation,  in  poetry,  and  romance.'  {Hist.  i. 
p.  11.)  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  we  have  no  collection  of  laws,  no  national 
historic  work,  no  poem,  no  essays,  not  even  a  volume  of  sermons,  by  any 
native  of  Normandy  from  the  time  before  the  Conquest,  to  lend  support  to 
this  representation.  (Lappenberg,  England  under  the  Normans.  William  I.) 
The  few  names  of  cultivated  men  which  belong  to  the  history  of  Normandy 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  eleventh  century,  are  the  names  of  Italians  or  French- 
men, they  are  not  the  names  of  Normans.  Our  earliest  written  authority  in 
relation  to  the  laws  of  Normandy,  does  not  go  further  back  than  the  time  of 
Henry  II.  (Coutumier  of  JSFormandy);  and  the  compiler  of  that  work  thinks  it 
probable  that,  in  the  history  of  jurisjDrudence  to  that  time,  the  influence  of 
Normandy  on  England  had  been  less,  than  the  influence  of  England  on  Nor- 
mandy. Judge  Hale  is  strongly  of  this  opinion  {Hist.  Com.  Law,  cc.  vi,  vii), 
and  the  opinion  becomes  highly  probable,  from  the  much  older  civihzation, 
and  the  greater  wealth,  of  the  conquered  country.  The  literature  of  '  ro- 
mance,' in  the  history  of  the  Normans,  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  is 
not  older  than  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  was  not  only  the 
work  of  Normans  in  England  long  after  the  Conquest,  but  consists  of  httle 
else  than  a  metrical  rendering  from  English  tales  and  ballads,  or  from  the 
Latin  prose  of  our  own  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth.  The  earliest  known  use  of 
Norman-French  in  authorship  does  not  occur  until  at  least  half  a  century  after 
the  settlement  of  the  Normans  in  this  country,  and  of  that  instance  we  have 
only  the  tradition,  the  work  itself  does  not  exist. — Ellis's  Metrical  Romances, 
Introd.  §  1. 

Lord  Macaulay  further  states,  that  such  was  the  contempt  with  which  the 
English  were  regarded  by  the  Normans,  that  when  Henry  I.  hoped  to  gain  the 
affection  of  the  natives  by  marrying  an  English  princess,  the  marriage  was  re- 
garded by  '  many  of  the  barons  as  a  marriage  between  a  white  planter  and  a 
quadroon  girl  would  now  be  regarded  in  Virginia'  (i.  14).  Is  it  not  strange, 
then,  that  the  Norman  writers  should  tell  us  that  William  himself,  the  master 
of  all  those  barons,  betrothed  one  of  his  daughters  to  that  quadroon  Harold, 
son  of  earl  Godwin,  another  to  that  quadroon  Edwin,  son  of  earl  Alfgar,  and 
that  he  gave  his  niece  Judith  in  marriage  to  that  quadroon  Waltheof,  son  of 
earl  Siward.  Did  the  taint  run  in  the  blood  of  the  one  sex  and  not  in  the 
other  ?  It  would  hardly  seem  to  be  so,  for  a  sister  of  this  quadroon  princess 
became  the  wife  of  one  of  these  haughty  barons  ;  and  marriages  between  the 
two  races  were  only  too  common  for  the  happiness  of  Anglo-Saxon  females  of 
good  family  whoso  lot  was  cast  in  those  evil  times.    In  more  than  one  instance, 


308  NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

BOOK  IIL  a  Norman  princess  was  not  thought  to  be  degraded  by  being  given  in  marriage 
Chap.  8.     Qxen  to  a  Welshman. — Ellis's  Metric.  Bom.  Introd.  §  3. 

That  the  Norman  barons  were  often  disposed  to  indulge  in  a  tone  of  mili- 
tary insolence  towards  the  English,  and  that  there  were  men  in  the  herd  of 
adventurers  who  followed  them,  ready  to  copy  their  example  in  this  particular, 
may  be  true  enough.  But  it  does  not  follow  from  such  facts  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,  while  inferior  to  their  oppressors  in  military  skill,  were  not  their  su- 
periors in  much  beside.  The  Normans,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  retained 
much  of  the  hard  physiognomy  which  they  had  derived  from  their  coarse 
Norwegian  stock ;  and  much  in  their  manners  which  had  come  from  the 
same  source ;  while  the  better  class  of  Anglo-Saxons,  of  both  sexes,  are 
known  to  have  been  remarkable  for  their  personal  beauty,  and  also,  it  would 
seem,  for  a  mildness,  and  a  comparative  refinement  of  manner,  of  which  we 
trace  small  evidence  among  the  invaders  who  fought  at  Hastings.  In  legis- 
lation, in  the  useful  arts,  in  the  arts  which  contribute  to  the  embeUishment  of 
life,  in  learning,  and  in  morals  and  piety,  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  made  no  mean 
progress  while  the  Normans  were  still  mere  freebooters,  and  a  progress  which 
the  Normans  of  the  eleventh  century  had  but  very  partially  reached.  '  Wil- 
liam,' says  an  authority  before  cited,  '  celebrated  the  Easter  festival  (March, 
1067),  at  Fecamp,  whither  many  French  princes  and  nobles  were  attracted,  in 
honour  of  their  former  equal,  now  by  craft  and  the  fortune  of  war  exalted 
high  above  them.  Great  was  the  wonder  manifested  by  all  on  beholding  the 
young  Anglo-Saxons,  with  their  long  flowing  locks,  whose  almost  feminine 
beauty  excited  the  envy  of  the  comeliest  among  the  youth  of  France.  Nor 
was  their  admiration  less  on  seeing  the  garments  of  the  king  and  his  attend- 
ants, interwoven  and  encrusted  with  gold,  causing  all  they  had  previously 
seen  to  appear  as  mean  ;  also  the  almost  numberless  vessels  of  gold  and  silver 
of  surpassing  elegance  :  for  in  such  cups  only,  or  in  horns  of  oxen,  decorated 
at  both  extremities  with  the  same  metals,  the  numerous  guests  were  served 
with  drink.  Overwhelmed  with  the  sight  of  so  much  magnificence,  the 
French  returned  home.' — Lappenberg's  William  I.  William  of  Poitiers,  sec- 
retary to  the  Conqueror,  from  whom  the  above  description  is  taken,  has 
added,  '  the  English  women  are  eminently  skilful  with'  their  needle,  and  in  the 
I  weaving  of  gold;  the  men  in  every  kind  of  artificial  workmanship'  (p.  210). 
The  Normans  who  invaded  England  were  at  the  head  of  the  military  science 
of  their  age  ;  in  scarcely  anything  else  can  they  be  said  to  have  been  in  ad- 
vance of  the  English,  in  many  things  they  were  not  on  a  level  with  them. 
Their  valour  stood  them  in  good  stead  in  Normandy,  their  learning  and  re- 
finement are  almost  wholly  of  a  date  subsequent  to  their  settlement  in 
England,  and  the  higher  education  which  awaited  in  England  made  them 
Englishmen. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   EELATIOJST   TO    GOVERNMENT. 

THE  interval  during  wliicli  the  great  feature  in  English  ^2?]^/" 
history  consists  in  the  ascendency  of  the  ITormans  and  De^i^ 
the  subjection  of  the  Saxons,  extends  from  the  Conquest  to  ten  ^  *^" 
the  age  of  the  Great  Charter.     The  reigns  included  in  this 
interval  are  those  of  the  Conqueror,  William  Rufus,  Henry 
1.,  and  Stephen ;  also  those  of  Henry  H,  and  of  his  sons 
Richard  and  John.     These  reigns  together  cover  a  century 
and  a  half.     The  changes  in  respect  to  government  intro- 
duced immediately  after  the  Conquest,  and  the  gradual 
development  of  the  new  political  feeling,  and  of  the  new  prin- 
ciples of  government,  which  ended  in  the  great  settlement 
at  Runnymeade,  constitute  the  subject  to  be  treated  in  this 
chapter. 

Lawyers  are  accustomed  to  divide  law  into  two  depart-  £!f"°en^° 
ments — the  not  written^  and  the  written.     "What  is  called  aSd  SXto 
common  law,  embraces  all  unwritten  law,  and  much  that  ^^'^• 
has  been  written.    Immemorial  usage  possesses  the  authority 
of  law  ;  and  law  may  be  proved  to  be  such  by  writings, 
as  well  as  by  other  evidence,  without  becoming  in  the  legal 
sense  statute  or  written  law.     So  little  care  has  been  taken 
to  preserve  the  laws  which  had  been  committed  to  writing 
before  the  accession  of  Richard  I.,  that,  in  the  legal  sense, 
all  law  before  that  time  is  accounted  as  unwritten,  and  as 
being  law  only  from  old  usage.     Statute  law  rests  on  the 
statutes  recorded  and  preserved  from  that  time.    All  that  is 
antecedent  is  common  law. 

The  common  law  of  England  at  the  time  of  the  Con- 
quest, was  partly  written  and  partly  not  written.     The  not 


310 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  4. 


Feudalism 
in  England. 


Feudal  in- 
cidents. 


written  consisted  iii  those  old  customs  which  had  survived 
all  record  or  compact  relating  to  them.  The  written  con- 
sisted in  those  written  laws  of  the  different  Anglo-Saxon 
states  which  had  been  more  or  less  collected  and  digested 
by  Alfred,  and  Edgar,  and  the  Confessor.  In  this  mixture 
of  custom  and  record  we  iind  the  common  law — the  law  of 
the  land  to  Englishmen,  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest ;  and 
these  are  the  laws  intended  by  the  English  when  they  pray 
so  earnestly  that  they  may  still  be  governed  as  in  the  days 
of  the  good  king  Edward.  We  have  seen  what  these  laws 
were.  We  have  now  to  see  how  far  they  were  perpet- 
uated.* 

The  military  organizations  extended  by  the  [N'ormans 
over  the  country  they  had  conquered,  was  the  first  great 
feature  of  change.  The  great  men  became  tenants  to 
the  crown.  Lesser  men  became  tenants  to  the  greater. 
The  demand  made  on  every  tenant  by  his  landlord,  whether 
in  the  person  of  the  king  or  the  baron,  was  a  certain  amount 
of  military  assistance,  or  else  a  rent  to  be  paid  in  the  shape 
of  produce  or  personal  service.  The  first  form  of  tenure,  as 
mentioned  elsewhere,  was  designated  military  tenure.  The 
second  was  known  by  the  name  of  soccage. 

These  feudal  tenures  brought  with  them  feudal  burdens 
which  were  occasional,  in  addition  to  those  which  were 
regular.  On  succeeding  to  an  inheritance,  a  considerable 
fine  was  paid  to  the  king,  under  the  name  of  the  relief.  On 
such  occasions  the  contributions  of  those  who  held  by  mili- 
tary tenure  consisted  of  horses  and  warlike  accoutrements. 
The  soccage  tenant  forfeited  a  year's  rent;  the  vilein  his 
best  beast.  Similar  exactions  were  made,  under  the  name 
of  aids,  when  the  king  knighted  his  eldest  son,  or  gave  his 
daughter  in  marriage.  It  was  provided  also,  that  the  prop- 
erty of  state  offenders  should  escheat  to  the  crown,  and  that 
the  same  should  follow  on  the  failure  of  heirs.  Trial  by  duel 
was  hardly  known  among  the  Anglo-Saxons.  It  became 
very  common  among  the  Anglo-Normans.  With  these 
novelties  came  a  stricter  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  primo- 

*  Hale's  History  of  the  Common  Law.     Blackstone's  Commentaries,  Introd. 
§3. 


THE  CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.      311 

geniture,  and  a  series  of  laws  limiting  the  right  of  the  parent  book  iil 
to  alienate  his  property,  especially  his  inherited  property.  — '- 
But  no  feature  of  the  new  legislation  was  so  repugnant  to 
the  feeling  of  the  English  as  the  forest  laws.  The  chasing 
away  of  people  by  thousands  from  the  soil,  that  their  homes 
might  be  converted  into  forests  for  wild  animals,  was  evil 
enough  ;  but  the  punishments  which  followed  the  violation 
of  those  laws  filled  the  cup  of  the  popular  indignation  to  the 
full.  It  is  true  the  Conqueror  was  opposed  to  capital  pun- 
ishments, but  it  was,  as  we  have  said,  simply  because  his 
merciless  nature  regarded  mutilation  as  likely  to  prove  a 
greater  terror  than  the  gallows.* 

In  a  great  meeting  convened  at  Salisbury  in  1086,  Wil-  ^^^^  ^^ 
liam  required  that  all  subtenants,  no  less  than  his  great  ten-  Salisbury, 
ants,  should  be  accounted  as  holding  their  lands  from  the 
crown.  According  to  the  /Saxon  Chronicle^  this  meeting 
embraced  '  all  the  tenants  of  the  land  that  were  of  conse- 
quence over  all  England.'  Another  contemporary  authority 
says,  the  persons  assembled  were  not  less  than  60,000 — all, 
as  the  Saxon  annalist  writes,  '  becoming  the  vassals  of  this 
man.'  f 

This  fact  shows,  beyond  doubt,  the  great  power  retained  its  effects. 
by  the  Conqueror  to  the  last  year  of  his  life.  The  tendency 
of  this  proceeding  was  to  detract  somewhat  from  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  nobles,  by  diffusing  a  spirit  of  divided  alle- 
giance through  all  the  sub-vassals  of  the  king.  Its  effect, 
however,  was  not  so  much  to  augment  the  power  of  the 
crown,  as  to  open  the  way  to  a  gradual  elevation  of  the 
people.  For  the  right  of  direct  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  crown,  in  all  the  relations  between  landlord  and  tenant, 
which  was  thus  established,  extended  to  county  and  bor- 
ough ;  and  in  the  contentions  which  frequently  arose  from 
this  source  between  the  king  and  his  nobles,  the  people  were 
generally  the  gainers.  Two  masters  thus  came  into  the 
field,  and  each  often  claimed  allegiance  on  the  ground  of 
being  the  best.  To  the  class  of  landholders  whom  we  now 
designate  the  gentry,  this  arrangement  was  often  advanta- 

*  Blackstone  iv.  bk.  iv.  c.  33.     Reeves's  Hist.  Eng.  Law^  i.  c.  2. 
f  Chron.  Sax.  ad  an.  1086.     Ordericus.     Madox,  Hist.  Excheq.  c.  i. 


312 


KOKMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


^cSS.  4^*  g^^^s.     It  gave  them  a  right  of  appeal  from  local  oppres- 
sion,  of  which  it  would  be  in  their  power  to  avail  them- 
selves. 

Conqueror?  "^^^^  temper  and  the  circumstances  of  the  Conqueror  gave 
their  impress  to  his  policy.  His  distrust  of  the  English  was 
the  natural  result  of  the  course  which  he  had  taken  towards 
them.  He  did  enough  to  make  confidence  in  him  impos- 
sible, and  then  affected  to  complain  of  the  want  of  confi- 
dence. It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  choose  a  mild  course 
for  its  own  sake.  His  avarice  and  his  ambition  prompted 
him  to  rule  with  a  strong  hand.  To  gratify  these  passions 
he  could  descend  to  almost  any  depth  in  craft  or  crime. 
From  these  causes  he  has  his  place  in  the  class  of  rulers 
whom  history  must  describe  as  tyrannical,  severe,  cruel. 
His  strength  never  came  from  the  affection  of  those  beneath 
him,  but  from  a  stern  mastery  over  their  interests  and  their 
fears.  When  he  promised  at  his  coronation  to  rule  the 
people  of  England  as  the  best  of  their  kings  had  ruled  them, 
it  was  to  secure  the  appearance,  as  far  as  possible,  of  an 
English  suffrage  in  connexion  with  that  ceremony.  When 
he  pledged  himself  in  the  most  public  and  solemn  manner, 
two  years  later,  to  uphold  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor, it  was  with  the  hope  of  deterring  the  southern  Eng- 
lish from  taking  part  with  the  insurgents  of  the  north.* 
In  so  far  as  those  laws  might  be  observed  consistently  with 
his  main  purpose  as  a  conqueror,  he  would  probably  observe 
them — ^but  assuredly  no  further.  In  the  great  meeting  at 
Salisbury,  the  pledge  to  govern  according  to  the  good  laws 
of  Edward,  and  of  his  predecessors,  was  renewed. f 
Laws  of  It  was  not  the  wish  of  the  Normans  themselves  that 

Edward  the  . 

Confessor—  thosc  laws   sliould  bc  whollv  superseded.     Even  m   the 

li.ow  lar  per-  .  . 

Snde^the     ^orst  timcs,  they  were  upheld  in  their  substance,  especially 
kin™^'^      in  civil  causes,  and,  with  very  limited  exception,  in  criminal 
causes.     The  feudal  subordinations  introduced  by  the  Con- 
quest, left  the  hundred  courts,  and  the  county  courts,  much 
as  they  had  been ;  and  justice  as  between  man  and  man, 

*  Juravit  super  omnes  reliquias  Ecclesiae  Sti.  Albani,  tactisque  sacrosanctis 
evangeliis,  bonas  et  approbatas  antiquas  regni  leges — inviolabiliter  observare. — 
Matt.  Paris,  Vit.  Abbat.  30. 

f  Madox's  Exchequer,  c.  i.  5. 


TIIE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        313 

and  offences  against  the  public  peace,  were  dealt  with,  for  ^^^  "^ 

the  most  part,  as  in  past  times.     It  waa,  in  many  respects,     

greatly  to  the  advantage  of  the  l^ormans  that  this  course 
should  be  taken. 

An  instance  showing  the  value  of  these  laws  even  to  the 
conquerors,  we  see  in  the  use  which  they  made  of  the  Saxon 
hundred  for  the  security  of  their  own  lives.  When  the 
natives  could  no  longer  resist  their  oppressors  openly,  they 
not  unfrequently  avenged  themselves  upon  them  by  private 
onslaught.  Tlie  result  was  a  law  which  declared,  that  on 
the  discovery  of  the  body  of  a  murdered  man,  if  the  de- 
ceased could  not  be  proved  to  have  been  an  Englishman,  it 
should  be  presumed  that  he  was  a  N^orman,  and  the  hun- 
dred in  that  case  was  required  to  bring  the  homicide  to  jus- 
tice, or  to  pay  his  fine.^* 

The  laws  administered  in  the  local  courts  were  certainly 
in  substance  the  same,  but  the  Saxon  thanes  and  officials, 
as  the  administrators,  had  been  displaced  by  the  strangers. 
It  was  something,  however,  to  have  so  much  of  these  '  wise 
customs'  preserved.  The  free  spirit  in  which  they  had 
originated  might  some  day  return  to  them,  develop,  and 
mature  them.  But  for  the  present,  a  l!^orman  might  kill 
an  Englishman  with  impunity,  if  he  could  only  say  that  he 
thought  him  a  rebel.f  And  while  to  the  Saxon  was  ceded 
the  doubtful  privilege  of  clearing  himself  by  ordeal,  the 
I^orman  might  clear  himself  by  duel,  or  simply  by  his 
oath.  About  a  century  and  a  half  subsequent  to  the  Con- 
quest, the  church  of  Eome  abolished  trial  by  ordeal,  and  in 
that  act  rendered  service  to  humanity.:):  Still  the  use  of 
French  in  all  the  law  courts,  which  continued  to  the  time 
of  Edward  III.,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  indicate  the  inequal- 
ity of  the  two  races  before  the  tribunals  of  the  country.  If 
we  suppose  this  custom  a  necessity,  the  officials  being  all 

*  Wilkins,  Ze^es  Anglo-Saxonicce,  228  et  seq.  Hoveden,  ad  an.  1180.  In 
the  reign  of  Richard  I.  a  hundred  was  fined  on  account  of  persons  found  in  it 
who  had  died  from  want,  not  from  violence  of  any  kind — a  custom  which 
seemed  to  embrace  the  principle  of  a  poor-law. — Eolls  and  Records,  Introd. 
§  ^^J- 

f  Decreta  PrcBsulum  Normannorum.     Wilkins,  Concilia,  366. 

X  Notce  ad  EadmerUm,  edit.  Selden,  204. 


314 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


^cS?.  4"'  Fi'enchmen,  tlie  disadvantage  to  the  English  was  not  the 

less  on  that  account. 
hny-L  ^^  ^^^  material  respect  the  Anglo-I^orman  legislation 

history.  gQQj^  became  an  improvement  on  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 
Lawyers  of  great  learning  have  been  wont  to  speak  of  onr 
trial  by  jury  as  an  institution  older  than  the  Conquest.* 
But  we  have  seen  that  men  of  learning  who  have  traversed 
this  ground  more  recently,  have  made  it  appear,  that  trial 
by  jury,  in  our  sense,  was  not  known  in  England  earlier 
than  the  reign  of  Henry  Il.f  "We  have  seen  elsewhere, 
that  what  was  often  described  as  trial  by  jurors,  under  the 
Saxon  kings,  was  in  fact  a  trial  by  magistrates.'!!;.  The  jurors 
were  witnesses.  They  did  not  deliver  a  joint  verdict  on  the 
case :  each  juror  gave  his  evidence,  and  the  conjoint  evi- 
dence so  given,  was  intended  to  guide  the  functionary  pre- 
siding in  forming  and  pronouncing  a  judgment.  The  persons 
selected,  accordingly,  to  serve  on  those  juries,  were  always 
chosen  on  the  ground  of  neighbourhood,  or  as  being  persons 
^supposed  to  know  most  of- the  case.  The  jury  so  constituted, 
was  not  to  include  persons  whose  nearness  of  kin  was  likely 
to  bias  their  depositions.  For  a  lawful  cause,  also,  any 
member  of  such  a  jury  might  be  challenged,  either  by  the 
accused  or  by  the  accuser.  Even  such  an  intervention  of 
the  principle  of  a  jury,  inasmuch  as  it  made  the  evidence 
of  guilt  to  depend  generally  on  the  unbiassed  testimony  of 
neighbours  and  equals,  was  a  great  protection  to  the  subject. 
But  much  was  gained  when  a  jury  was  chosen  from  the 
'  country,'  and  empowered  to  judge  concerning  the  evi- 
dence adduced,  and  to  say  guilty  or  not  guilty.  The  deci- 
sion of  the  case  then  virtually  rested,  not  with  the  magis- 
trate, but  with  good  men  from  the  locality,  panelled  for  the 
occasion,  and  dismissed  when  the  occasion  was  over.  Trial 
by  a  jury  of  witnesses  had  obtained  in  E"ormandy,  as  well 
as  in  England,  before  the  Conquest ;  but  trial  by  jury,  in 
the  modern  sense,  dates  from  about  the  time  when  the 
church  abolished  trial  by  ordeal. 

Before  tliat  time,  indeed,  individuals,  as  a  matter  of 

*  Coke  ;  Spelman ;  Blackstone.  f  Palgrave,  i.  c.  viii. 

X  See  pp.  237-240. 


THE    CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        315 

favour,  and  commonly  of  purchase,  were  allowed  to  submit  ^g^^  "^ 

their  cause  to  the  judgment  of  twelve  or  twenty-four  men     

from  their  neighbourhood,  and  so  to  be  exempt  from  the 
decision  of  the  magistrate.  Such  cases,  however,  were  rare, 
and  restricted,  we  may  be  assured,  to  Normans.  But  they 
involved  a  principle  which  was  to  become  staple,  and  emi- 
nently fruitful.  When  trial  by  ordeal  ceased,  and  some 
change  became  necessary,  our  lawyers  might  have  fallen 
back  upon  the  civil  law,  which  would  have  left  the  judg- 
ment both  of  law  and  evidence  w^iolly  to  the  judge.  But 
they  took  the  onward  course.  They  retained  the  usages 
which  time  and  experience  had  sanctioned,  and  they  changed 
jurors  who  could  only  give  evidence,  into  jurors  who  might 
deliver  a  verdict.* 

It  is  important,  however,  to  remember,  that  trial  by 
jury,  in  this  sense,  was  restricted  to  courts  acting  by  the 

*  Palgrave,  ii.  c.  viii.  It  is  important  to  mark,  that  this  improved  form  of 
trial  by  jury  was  the  growth  of  the  Norman  intellect  in  England.  It  had  no 
previous  existence  in  Normandy.  The  same  may  be  said  of  much  beside  in  the 
history  of  Norman  jurisprudence  in  this  country. 

Selden,  in  his  learned  dissertation  on  Fleta,  has  shown  that  the  Roman  law 
was  the  law  of  Britain  while  under  the  Romans,  and  that  Papinian,  the  prince  of 
lawyers,  as  he  was  called,  was  for  a  time  at  the  head  of  judicial  affairs  in  this 
country.  But  with  the  departure  of  the  Romans  the  imperial  law  wholly  disap- 
pears from  our  history,  until  we  come  to  the  age  of  Glanvil.  Bracton,  and  Fleta, 
whose  lives  cover  the  reigns  of  Henry  II.  and  Henry  III. '  In  the  writings  of 
these  great  authorities  on  English  law,  there  are  frequent  citations  from  the  civil 
law  ;  but  these  citations  are  never  made  as  being  in  themselves  law  to  the  Eng- 
lish. They  are  adduced  as  corroborating  English  law  where  they  happen  to  agree 
with  it,  or  as  giving  the  decisions  of  experience  and  reason  on  points  for  which 
our  own  law  may  not  have  made  provision.  The  year  1 140  is  mentioned  as  the 
time  from  which  some  attention  began  to  be  given  to  the  study  of  Roman  law  in 
England  ;  and  Roger  Vicarius,  fomerly  abbot  of  Bee,  so  far  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  teacher  at  Oxford  on  this  subject,  in  1149,  that  in  1153  Stephen  issued 
a  prohibition  against  him.  But  the  study  was  not  suppressed  by  that  means. 
Edward  I.,  the  great  lawyer  among  our  kings,  availed  himself  of  assistance  from 
that  source,  but  always  in  dependence  on  the  sanction  of  our  legislature.  But 
from  the  accession  of  Edward  III.  the  course  of  our  legislation  is  little  influenced 
from  that  quarter.  The  feeling  of  the  nation  was  always  Avith  the  common  law, 
and  so  much  opposed  to  the  use  of  the  civil  law,  that  it  was  kept  within  limits 
which  were  comparatively,  if  not  altogether,  harmless.  Blackstone,  indeed, 
complains  heavily  of  the  intricacies  and  refinements  introduced  by  these  Norman 
lawyers  '  to  supersede  the  more  homely,  but  more  intelligible,  maxims  of  distri- 
butive justice  among  the  Saxons.  And,  to  say  the  truth,  these  scholastic  re- 
formers have  transmitted  their  dialect  and  finesse  to  posterity  so  interwoven  in 
the  body  of  our  legal  polity,  that  they  cannot  now  be  taken  out  without  a  mani- 
fest injury  to  the  suhstmce:— Commentaries,  bk.  iv.  c.  33.  See  also  Introd.  § 
8,  and  Hale's  Common  Law.  We  have  four  courts  in  which  the  canon  or  civil 
law  is  acknowledged,  subject  to  various  restrictions — the  ecclesiastical  courts,  the 
military  and  admiralty  courts,  and  the  courts  of  the  univei-sities. — Selden's  Dis- 
sertation on  Fleta. 


316  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^Cn5. 4"'  king's  writ  or  commission,  it  did  not  extend  to  the  hundred 
court,  nor  to  the  court-leet.     In  the  latter  courts,  the  jurors 
continued  to  be  witnesses,  and  nothing  more. 
Jffi^S''  ^^e  must  not  leave  the  question  of  trial  by  jurors  with- 

withlhr^  out  touching  on  one  more  significant  fact  relating  to  it.  The 
taxatSiI!  design  of  the  Conqueror  in  securing  an  entry  of  all  persons 
and  properties  in  Domesday  Book^  was  to  possess  himself  of 
the  information  necessary  for  making  his  exactions,  and 
exercising  his  arbitrary  will,  in  a  manner  that  should  be  scien- 
tific and  certain.  But  this  information  could  be  obtained  only 
by  means  of  jurors ;  and  the  jurors  pannelled  for  this  pur- 
pose in  every  locality,  consisted  of  necessity,  not  of  E'ormans 
only,  nor  chiefly,  but  mostly  of  the  old  inhabitants.  The 
Saxon  jurors  in  such  cases  included  the  yeoman,  the  burgess, 
and  even  the  churl.  The  local  evidence  thus  supplied  fur- 
nished for  that  time  a  sufficient  basis  for  local  taxation.  It 
is  material  to  observe  that  the  people  of  the  district  did  in 
effect  determine  the  liabilities  of  the  district,  and  that  the 
king  tacitly  consented  to  be  bound  by  the  evidence  so  ob- 
tained. As  the  jurors  in  this  case  formed  a  recognised  cor- 
porate authority,  there  would  be  a  tendency  in  every  such 
body  to  act,  upon  occasions,  with  a  degree  of  independence 
and  spirit  which  individuals  in  such  circumstances  could 
rarely  assume  when  acting  separately.  The  record  of 
Domesday  Book  made  its  report  concerning  the  persons 
and  properties  of  the  kingdom  in  1085.  But  suppose  a  few 
years  only  to  pass,  and  it  is  obvious  that  this  record  must 
cease  to  be  a  satisfactory  guide  to  the  rateable  property  of 
the  country.  To  ascertain  the  kind  and  degree  of  change 
that  has  taken  place,  new  jurors  must  now  be  sworn,  and 
new  inquest  made.  But  in  this  manner  the  precedent  in- 
troduced by  the  Conqueror  becomes  a  custom.  It  grows 
imperceptibly  to  be  a  recognised  principle,  that,  in  a  sense 
at  least,  the  people  must  not  be  taxed  without  their  consent 
— ^the  liabilities  of  the  district  must  be  virtually  fixed  by 
the  '  good  men  '  of  the  district.  The  germ  of  the  most  lib- 
eral and  healthy  provision  of  Magna  Cliarta,  and  of  much 
more,  lay  in  this  usage.     This  good  did  the  first  AVilliam 


THE   CONQrEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.         317 

for  our  country,  though  his  selfish  and  iron  nature  meant  book  til 
it  not.  

This  wholesome  local  custom  had  become  general,  before  {J^'^^^JJJ"  "^ 
it  became  law  that  tallages  should  no  longer  be  levied  with-  Parliament, 
out  the  consent  of  parliament.  In  fact,  the  jury  principle 
had  never  ceased  to  be  a  great  educating  principle  ainong  the 
English  people.  Its  benefits  were  not  restricted  to  the  sift- 
ing of  evidence  in  judicial  cases.  It  trained  the  people  to 
the  discharge  of  political  duties,  and  to  the  assertion  of 
political  rights ;  and  it  taught  even  the  proudest  of  our 
kings  that  there  were  points  in  political  ♦proceedings  where 
popular  feeling  had  raised  a  boundary,  and  set  up  an  au- 
thority, which  it  might  be  dangerous  to  treat  with  disre- 
spect.* 

But  this  popular  feeling  was  to  seeth  long  in  compara-  fi"n°^anji 
tive  secrecy  before  rising  to  the  surface  of  history.  During  Stephen, 
the  short  reign  of  "William  Eufus,  the  arbitrary  temper  of 
the  government,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  Saxons,  were  even 
greater  than  under  the  Conqueror.  But  Henry  I.  is  de- 
scribed as  '  the  Lion  of  Justice.'  And  certainly,  in  check- 
ing the  rapacity  of  the  barons  as  he  did,  and  in  counterbal- 
ancing the  influence  of  some  of  the  more  powerful  among 
them  by  raising  up  many  new  men  to  the  same  rank,  he 
gave  evidence  both  of  capacity  and' courage.  His  sway 
was  that  of  comparative  order.  But  the  reign  of  Stephen, 
which  followed,  brings  us  to  the  lowest  deep  in  political  dis- 
organization and  popular  suflering  known  to  English  history 
since  the  Conquest.  The  pious  monk  who  fills  up  the  page 
of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  at  Peterborough,  towards  tlie  close 
of  this  reign,  is  so  appalled  by  the  retrospect  of  tliese  intes- 
tine wars  and  miseries,  that  they  become  to  him  the  tokens 
that  Christ  and  his  saints  must  have  ceased  to  concern  them- 
selves longer  with  the  interests  of  huraanity.f     But  on  the 

*  Palgrave,  i.  c.  viii. 

f  The  tortures  which  the  chronicler  describes  as  those  inflicted  on  male  and 
female  by  the  plunderers  on  both  sides,  in  the  hope  of  extorting  property  from 
them,  are  so  horrible,  that  we  must  hope  they  were  in  some  degree  mere  ru- 
mours, exaggerated  by  the  alarm  of  the  times.  But  the  following  may  be  taken 
as  history.  '  I  neither  can  nor  may  tell,'  says  the  monk,  '  all  the  wounds,  nor 
all  the  pains,  which  they  did  to  the  wretched  men  of  this  land  :  and  this  lasted 
the  nineteen  years  while  Stephen  was  king,  and  always  it  was  worse  and  worse. 
They  laid  contributions  on  the  towns  every  now  and  then,  and  called  it  tenserie ; 


318 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  4. 


The  king 
court. 


Legislative 
power  of 
the  king's 
council. 


accession  of  Henry  II.  a  new  complexion  of  affairs  soon  be- 
comes visible. 

The  great  instrument  through  which  England  was  gov- 
erned, during  this  Il^orman  period,  was  the  king's  council. 
This  council,  however,  bore  only  a  limited  resemblance  to 
a  Witanagemote.  It  was  the  manner  of  our  Anglo-Norman 
kings  to  keep  the  great  church  festivals — Christmas,  Easter, 
and  "Whitsuntide — ^in  their  different  palaces,  at  Westmin- 
ter,  Winchester,  Gloucester,  and  elsewhere.  The  pomp  of 
the  court  was  then  to  be  present.  Our  kings  in  those  days 
attached  great  importance  to  such  pageantries.'^  But  many 
grave  proceedings  were  associated  with  such  occasions. 
The  king's  court,  as  the  centre  of  the  opulence  and  splen- 
dour of  the  realm,  was  distinct  from  that  court  in  its  rela- 
tion to  government. 

All  persons  belonging  to  the  king's  court  for  purposes 
of  legislation  and  government  were  called  to  it  by  special 
summons.  These  persons  consisted  of  barons  only,  who,  as 
peers,  possessed  their  rank  in  common.  So  convened, 
these  nobles  were  supposed  to  represent  the  subjects  of  the 
realm  generally,  and  the  Anglo-l^orman  kings  deemed  it 
expedient  to  act,  in  many  respects,  as  by  the  voice  of  that 
assembly.  The  laws  passed  during  this  period,  were  the 
laws  of  the  king,  issued  with  the  advice  or  consent  of  this 
council. t  It  is  true,  the  subject  was  not  always  secured 
by  this  means  against  arbitrary  measures  on  the  part  of 
the  crown.     Still,  the  idea  familiar  to  all  men  came  to  be, 


and  when  the  wretched  men  had  nothing  more  to  give,  then  they  plundered  and 
burnt  all  the  towns :  and  you  might  easily  go  a  whole  day's  journey  and  never 
find  a  man  remaining  in  a  town,  nor  the  land  tilled.  Then  was  corn  dear,  and- 
flesh,  and  cheese,  and  butter,  for  there  was  none  in  the  land.  Wretched  men 
died  of  hunger  ;  some  went  a-begging  who  formerly  were  rich  men  ;  some  fled 
out  of  the  country.  If  two  or  three  men  came  riding  to  a  town,  all  the  town- 
ship fled  on  account  of  them  :  they  thought  they  were  robbers.  The  bishops 
and  clergy  constantly  cursed  them,  but  this  was  nothing  to  them  ;  for  they  were 
all  accursed,  and  forsworn,  and  lost.' — a.d.  1137. 

*  One  who  lived  in  the  court  of  the  Conqueror  says — '  He  was  very  dig- 
nified ;  each  year  he  wore  his  crown  thrice,  as  often  as  he  was  in.  England.  On 
Easter  he  wore  it  at  Winchester,  on  Whitsuntide  at  Westminister,  on  Christmas 
at  Gloucester ;  and  at  these  times  there  were  with  him  all  the  powerful  men 
from  over  all  England ;  archbishops  and  diocesan  bishops,  abbots  and  earls, 
thanes  and  knights.'— C/tron.  Sax.  a.d.  1087. 

f  Edinburgh  Rev.  xxxv.  1-43.  Allen's  Inquiry  into  the  Growth  of  the 
Royal  Prerogative  in  England. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        319 

that  the  valid  form  of  law  was  that  which  gave  it  as  the  act  ^c?5.  4^ 

of  the  king,  with  the  concurrence  of  this  great  council ;  and     

that  government  according  to  such  law,  was  the  only  just, 
government.  The  laws  of  the  Conqueror  were  issued  in  his 
own  name  and  in  the  name  of  his  council ;  and  the  cele- 
brated Charter  attributed  to  Henry  I.  states,  that  the  king 
gives  his  subjects  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  with 
the  emendations  of  his  father,  and  that  he  does  this  with 
the  consent  of  his  barons."^  The  Saxons,  we  have  seen,  were 
earnest  and  constant  in  their  call  for  the  protection  of  these 
laws  ;  and  before  the  close  of  the  period  now  under  review, 
many  of  the  Normans  had  learnt  to  join  in  the  demand. 
The  spirit  of  this  demand  in  both  cases,  was  a  desire  to  be 
governed  by  such  known  laws  and  customs  as  should  be  a 
protection  against  caprice  and  injustice,  whether  coming 
from  the  hands  of  kings  or  magistrates. 

Concerning  the  judicial  power  which  belonged  to  the  powei*of 
council  of  barons  even  under  the  Conqueror,  we  have  some  ^^^  «<>°"<^''- 
evidence  in  the  proceedings  reported  as  having  taken  place 
in  the  sixth  year  of  that  reign.  In  that  year  the  king,  with 
the  advice  of  his  assembled  prelates  and  barons,  put  an  end 
to  the  controversy  which  had  gone  up  between  the  arch- 
bishops of  York  and  Canterbury,  in  regard  to  precedence. 
The  decision  was  in  favour  of  Canterbury.  In  that  year 
also,  the  charge  of  treason  was  brought  before  this  council 
against  earl  Waltheof,  and  on  the  verdict  there  given 
by  the  peers  the  earl  was  beheaded.  In  the  reign  of  Rich- 
ard the  First  we  meet  with  a  striking  instance  of  the  power 
in  this  form,  which  the  ^N^orman  barons  had  learnt  to  regard 
as  pertaining  to  them.  The  king,  before  going  on  his  cru- 
sade, had  appointed  his  chancellor,  William  Longchamp, 
as  justiciary,  or  vicar  of  the  kingdom,  conjointly  with  the 
bishop  of  Durham.  But  Longchamp  assumed  the  whole 
function  to  himself.  The  barons  took  upon  them  to  chastise 
the  folly  and  insolence  of  this  man,  which  they  did  by 
depriving  him  of  his  office  and  sending  him  into  exile.  Tliis, 
though  done  professedly  in  the  name  of  the  king,  was  to  go 
far  towards  asserting  the  responsibilities  of  the  ministers  of 

*  Madox,  Hist.  Excheq.  c.  i. 


320  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSS"^'  ^^^^^  to   the   country,  and  the    consequent  right   of   im- 

peachment.* 

Bitter  and  protracted  disputes  arose  during  this  period 
between  the  kings  of  England  and  the  court  of  Rome.  They 
were  especially  conspicuous  in  the  long  reigns  of  Henry  I. 
and  Henry  H.  In  carrying  on  this  warfare  against  the 
secular  encroachments  of  the  papacy,  always  urged  by  the 
ecclesiastical  powder,  as  usual,  under  spiritual  pretences, 
both  the  kings  above  named,  and  especially  the  latter,  issued 
their  many  protests,  not  simply  in  their  own  name,  but  in 
the  name  of  the  great  council  of  the  nation.  By  this  means 
the  convening  of  this  council  came  to  be  more  frequent  and 
regular.  Its  proceedings  became  more  formal.  Its  author- 
ity was  more  generally  acknowledged.  Its  position  in  all 
respects  became  more  in  harmony  with  our  idea  of  a  repre- 
sentative body  or  parliament. 

The  officer  who  presided  in  the  king's  court,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  the  king,  was  the  Chief  Justiciar.  To  that  officer 
the  guardianship  of  the  realm  was  entrusted  when  the  king 
was  beyond  sea.  "With  the  Justiciar  were  associated,  as 
alike  officers  of  the  king's  court,  the  Constable,  the  Mare- 
schal,  the  Chamberlain,  the  Chancellor,  and  the  Treasurer. 
The  division  of  labour  which  these  different  titles  imply, 
helped  to  bring  about  the  division  of  the  one  original  court  into 
several.  In  brief,  the  four  courts  at  "Westminster  were  orig- 
inally so  many  subdivisions  of  the  king's  court.  These  courts 
all  made  their  appearance  towards  the  close  of  the  period 
now  under  review.  They  came  into  existence  by  degrees, 
and  appear  to  have  been  nearly  coeval — ^lawyers  have  been 
willing  to  regard  them  as  strictly  so,  that  there  might  be 
no  dispute  about  precedence. f 
The  king's  But  the  idea  of  the  kingly  office,  strongly  embodied  in 

thelLw."^''  the  laws  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  in  the  English  laws  after 
the  Conquest,  is— that  the  king  is  the  great  administrator  of 
law,  the  fountain  of  justice.  His  court,  which,  though  cen- 
tral, moved  from  place  to  place,  was  designed  to  keep  watch 

*  Rolls  and  Records  of  the  Court  before  the  King's  Justiciars,  i.  Introduc- 
tion. 

f  Madox,  c.  ii.  xix. 


TIIE   CONQUEST  IN  ITS  EELATION   TO   GOVEENMENT.      321 

over  all  other   courts ;    so  that  justice  failing  anywhere,  ^^^^  "i- 

might,  as  a  last  resort,  be  always  found  there.     Local  courts      

resembled  only  so  many  local  committees,  delegated  by  the 
king  to  administer  his  laws  in  his  name.  The  same  may  be 
said  even  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  or  of  King's 
Bench,  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
as  they  make  their  appearance  in  the  manner  above  men- 
tioned. The  labour  in. all  these  courts  was  properly  the 
king's  labour,  and  those  who  serve  there  do  so  in  his  stead. 
Could  the  king  do  the  whole,  the  legal  conception  of  his 
position  would  say  that  he  should  do  it.  But  that  this 
work  should  have  been  done  in  great  part  from  the  first, 
and  n;iore  and  more  afterwards,  by  delegation,  has  been  a 
matter  of  necessity,  and  a  benefit  of  incalculable  amount 
to  the  subject.  Our  early  Norman  kings  often  judged  in 
person,  both  in  civil  and  criminal  causes.  It  was  by  so  doing 
that  the  Conqueror,  Henry  the  First,  and  Henry  the  Sec- 
ond, made  themselves  felt  by  their  judicial  sagacity,  no 
less  than  by  their  high  station.  The  separation  of  the 
king's  person  from  all  part  in  such  proceedings,  in  the  man- 
ner familiar  to  ourselves,  is  a  point  of  civilization  which  it 
has  required  many  centuries  to  develop. 

The  idea  that  the  king  is  in  all  places  where  the  laws 
are  administered,  comes  from  the  same*source  with  the  ideas 
that  the  king  never  dies,  and  that  he  can  do  no  wrong.  All 
these  notions  are  well  known  to  be  fictions,  but  they  are 
fictions  which  have  their  uses,  and  which  have  some  foun- 
dation in  truth.  Such  conceptions  of  the  kingly  ofiice  are 
purely  of  Roman  origin.  The  Teutonic  nations  knew 
nothing  of  them.  The  canon  law  of  the  clergy  took  its 
form  and  spirit  from  the  civil  law  of  the  empire,  and  church- 
men were  naturally  concerned  to  uphold  both.  In  this 
attempt,  they  were  aided  by  tlie  leading  provincials,  who, 
though  vanquished  by  the  barbarians,  survived  to  exercise 
great  influence  over  them.  It  was  the  policy  of  these  parties 
to  extend  their  conception  of  sovereignty  as  it  had  existed 
in  the  emperors,  to  the  rude  kings  who  had  come  into  their 
place.  It  was  for  the  bold  and  free  coadjutors  of  those 
kings  to  see  that  these  fine  words  should  be  little  else  than 
Vol.  I.— 21 


322  NORMANS    AND   ENGLISH. 

I500K  III.  words — that  kings  who  had  become  such  by  the  swords  of 

their  followers,  should  not  rule  to  their  injury,  nor  without 

their  influence.  It  was  in  this  manner  that  monarchies, 
more  or  less  mixed,  were  substituted  all  over  Europe,  in 
place  of  the  purely  despotic  monarchy  of  the  Eoman 
empire.  The  political  history  of  the  European  nations, 
is  the  history  of  these  opposite  tendencies,  which  combine 
to  present  results  that  are  nowhere  exactly  alike,  but  which 
have  something  everywhere  in  common.  For  in  European 
history,  monarchies  which  are  not  in  our  sense  constitu- 
tional, are  subject  to  checks  in  many  forms,  sufficient  to 
distinguish  the  prerogatives  of  modern  kings  from  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  the  imperial  masters  of  the  Roman  world. 
The  idea  of  the  king's  ubiquity  comes  down  to  us  with  our 
most  ancient  laws  ;  and  the  idea  of  the  divine  origin  of  his 
office,  which  the  clergy  have  professed  to  derive  from  Scrip- 
ture, is  almost  as  old.  But  the  notions  that  the  king  never 
dies,  and  that  he  can  do  no  wrong,  were  of  much  slower 
growth.  The  law  of  primogeniture  was  not  enough  to  de- 
termine the  succession  to  the  throne,  even  among  our 
Anglo-Norman  sovereigns,  still  less  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  Before  it  was  ceded  that  the  king  could  do  no 
-wrong,  it  was  necessary  that  the  right  to  impeach  the  min- 
isters who  might  do  wrong  in  his  name  should  be  acknowl- 
edged and  settled ;  and  before  it  was  admitted  that  the  king 
could  never  die,  it  was  imperative  that  such  a  fixed  pro- 
vision should  be  made  against  the  accident  of  his  incompe- 
tency, whether  from  tender  years  or  other  causes,  as  should 
assure  the  subject  of  the  safety  of  the  State  on  the  demise 
of  a  sovereign.  In  the  period  under  review,  our  constitu- 
tional history  was  not  so  far  advanced  as  to  allow  of  the  ad- 
mission of  such  abstractions  as  the  basis  of  law.  Even  so 
late  as  the  time  of  King  John,  the  Saxonized  citizens  of 
London  recognised  no  king  until  John  had  been  proclaimed 
by  their  mayor.*^ 

*Allen's  Inquiry.  A  king's  death  was  the  usual  signal  for  a  general  disor- 
ganization of  the  community ;  and  until  another  was  established  upon  his  throne, 
no  protection  could  be  found  in  the  law. — Rolls  and  Records^  Introduction. 
When  Henry  III.  was  near  death,  the  citizens  of  London  had  chosen  one  mayor, 
the  magnates  another ;  and  the  citizens,  with  their  strong  Anglo-Saxon  notions 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        323 

Our  kinffs  must  often  have  entrusted  the  administration  ^99^  ^^^ 

,       .  CuAP.  4. 

of  justice  to  their  justiciaries,  and  to  officers  much  more  m^^^^ 
subordinate,  before  the  times  of  Henry  the  Second.  But  it  ^"^^s*^"- 
is  not  until  some  while  after  the  accession  of  that  monarch 
that  we  find  England  divided  into  law  circuits,  and  judges 
in  eyre — that  is,  '  itinerant,'  or  travelling  judges,  appointed 
to  hold  their  assizes  in  given  places,  and  at  given  times,  in 
those  circuits.  The  first  division  of  the  kingdom  was  into 
six  circuits.  Subsequently  the  six  were  reduced  to  four ; 
the  country  north  of  the  Humber  being  one  of  the  four. 
For  that  northern  division  six  justices  were  appointed,  and 
on  account  of  distance,  and  still  more  on  account  of  the 
condition  of  those  provinces,  these  northern  functionaries 
were  vested  with  special  powers.  This  is  one  of  the  meas- 
ures which  have  contributed  to  make  the  reign  of  Henry 
II.  so  memorable  in  our  history.* 

But,  important   as   these    organizations   must    appear,  Further 
under  any  view  of  them,  the  instructions  sriven  to  the  indues  the  popular 

/        -  -,.'.,,  ^  ,        .        ,         ^  .    elementin 

concerning  the  modes  m  which  they  were  to  obtain  the  evi-  govem- 
dence  necessary  to  enable  them  to  detect  the  delinquent, 
were  fraught  in  a  still  higher  degree  with  good  for  the  fu- 
ture. For  it  was  in  this  part  of  the  proceedings  that  not 
only  the  jury  principle,  but  a  kind  of  representative  princi- 
ple, came  into  new  and  most  salutary  action. 

When  Henry  11.  returned  from  N^ormandy,  in  the  year 
1170,  he  found  the  people  loud  in  their  complaints  on  ac- 
count of  the  extortions  and  oppressions  Avhich  had  been 
practised  upon  them  in  his  absence.  Henry,  with  the 
advice  of  his  great  council  {optvmates),  sent  judges  {harones 
errantes)  to  visit  the  different  counties,  and  to  collect  evi- 
dence in  relation  to  these  charges.  In  pursuance  of  these 
instructions,  the  judges  were  empowered  to  demand  on  oath, 
from  all  barons,  knights,  and  freemen,  and  from  all  citizens 
and  burgesses,  that  they  should  say  the  truth  concerning 
all  that  should  be  required  of  them  on  biehalf  of  the  king, 

concerning  the  interval  between  the  death  of  a  king  and  the  proclamation  of  his 
successor  as  being  an  interval  in  which  there  was  no  king,  waited  for  the  death 
of  Henry,  with  the  intention  of  raising  at  that  moment  against  the  aldermanic 
class. — ibid.  §  xlvii. 
*  Madox,  c.  iii. 


324:  ~  NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^ci?S"^*  and   that  they  should  not  conceal  the  truth  for  love  or 

hatred,  favour  or  affection,  gift  or  reward.     As  the  sheriffs 

and  the  bailiffs  were  the  parties  most  vehemently  accused, 
their  conduct  was  to  be  especially  investigated.  Inquiry 
was  to  be  made  concerning  the  amount  of  money  which 
they  had  unduly  levied  on  the  hundreds  or  townships  since 
the  king  had  passed  into  Kormandy,  so  that  every  excess 
in  rating  might  be  ascertained,  and  every  injury  done  by 
that  means  corrected.  Care  was  to  be  taken  also,  to  dis- 
cover in  what  instances  the  guilty  had  been  allowed  to 
escape  without  punishment,  and  the  innocent  had  been 
accused  without  cause.  So  wide  was  the  range  of  this 
inquiry,  that  all  landholders  were  embraced  in  it,  and 
required  to  give  a  true  account  of  all  things  taken  from 
their  tenants,  by  lawful  judgment,  or  without  judgment. 
Archdeacons  and  deans  were  subject  to  this  scrutiny,  in 
common  with  sheriffs  and  bailiffs.  Great  was  the  terror 
excited  by  these  proceedings.  Tlie  result  indeed,  was  not 
altogether  such  as  the  fears  of  the  offenders,  and  the  hopes 
of  the  injured,  had  led  them  to  expect.  But  the  effect  was 
good.  It  showed  the  delinquents  the  power  that  might  at 
any  time  be  evoked  against  them.  E'early  all  the  sheriffs 
were  removed  from  their  office,  and  many  of  their  subor- 
dinates were  subjected  to  heavy  fines.* 

It  will  be  seen,  that  in  all  these  proceedings,  the  judges 
administered  the  law  by  means  of  jurors.  In  so  doing,  they 
made  their  uses,  as  far  as  practicable,  of  the  old  Saxon  hun- 
dred. It  should  also  be  observed,  that  they  conformed  them- 
selves to  another  old  Saxon  usage,  by  accepting  '  four  men 
and  the  reeve,'  as  representative  of  a  township.  In  a  grand 
inquest  held  at  St.  Albans  in  the  time  of  John,  each  of  the 
demesne  towns  of  the  king  sent  its  four  good  men  and  its 
reeve.  We  read  also  of  '  four  discreet  knights,'  and  some- 
times of  twelve  men,  as  required  from  every  county,  cor- 
responding with  the  four  men  summoned  from  the  borough, 
or  the  jurors  summoned  for  the  hundred.  As  these  parties 
had  been  wont  to  present  the  grievances  of  the  people 
before  the  representatives  of  the  king  in  the  old  shiremotes, 

*  Palgrave,  i  c.  ix. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN  ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        325 

SO  now  they  presented  them  before  the  judges,  who  had  book  m 
come  into  the  place  of  the  sovereign  by  a  special  appoint-  — '-' 
ment. 

It  is  not  easy  to  speak  with  confidence  touching:  some  of  Kecojmi- 
the  nicer  shades  oi  tact  m  the  history  ot  our  constitution  ^^atprin. 

1       ,  -,  .  -ITT  ^  clples. 

during  this  stage.  We  may  see,  however,  very  clearly, 
that  the  government  was  carried  on  by  means  of  two  main 
elements — by  authorities  deputed  mostly  by  the  crown  on 
the  one  hand,  and  by  means  of  evidence  to  be  furnished  by 
the  people  on  the  other.  Over  a  large  surface  the  king's 
power  could  avail  nothing,  apart  from  evidence  so  obtained  ; 
at  the  same  time,  such  evidence  could  avail  nothing,  apart 
from  the  assent  of  the  crown.  Great  was  the  power  of  the 
crown  ;  but  great  also  was  the  power  of  jurors,  whether  as 
restricted  in  their  function  to  the  presentation  of  evidence, 
or  as  permitted  to  be  judges  of  evidence  when  presented. 

The  history  of  authority  among  the  Teutonic  races  is  a  course  of 
history  which  moves  upward,  from  the  less  to  the  greater,  among  tL 
The  state  begins  with  the  smaller  community,  which  grows  tribS*"'*' 
large  by  embracing  other  communities  like  itself.  The  unit 
is  before  the  aggregate  ;  and  to  the  last,  the  unit  is  mindful 
of  this  fact,  and  jealous  of  its  individuality.  The  tithings 
make  up  the  hundred,  the  hundreds  may  become  a  shire, 
and  the  shires  may  become  a  kingdom — but  the  lowest  was 
first,  and  is  not  content  to  be  injuriously  overshadowed  by 
the  highest,  which  has  come  last.  Sovereignty  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons  always  bore  the  marks  of  being  thus 
originated  ;  and  sovereignty  in  the  case  of  the  proudest  of 
the  Normans  was  powerfully  influenced  and  modified  by 
these  antecedents.  With  the  Celtic  tribes,  the  policy  which 
obtained  has  been  the  reverse  of  all  this.  The  course  of 
power  with  that  race  has  been  from  above — from  the 
greater  to  the  less. 

Out  of  the  uses  of  the  representative  principle  for  reme- 
dial and  judicial  purposes  above  mentioned,  sprang  its  uses, 
as  we  shall  see  in  another  place,  for  legislative  purposes, 
and  for  the  general  purposes  of  finance.*  When  once  a 
political  machinery  has  become  established,  nothing  is  more 

*  Edinburgh  Rev.  xxxvi.  290.     Palgrave's  Commonwealth.,  i.  c.  9. 


326  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

BOOK  in.  common  than  to  find  it  made  to  embrace  many  things  not 

included  in  its  original  design. 

Judicial  Such,  then,  was  the  kind  of  effort  made  by  the  best 

corruption.  '  -"  «' 

kings  of  this  period  to  protect  the  bearers  of  the  public 
burdens  against  oppression,  and  to  secure  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  between  man  and  man  should  be  without 
fear  or  favour.  The  facts  might  seem  to  warrant  the  con- 
clusion that  the  acts  of  the  crown  itself  would  be  especially 
marked  by  considerateness,  humanity,  and  respect  for  the 
law.  But  no  such  inference  is  sustained  by  history.  Places 
of  emolument,  even  the  chief  offices  of  state,  were  com- 
monly a  matter  of  purchase;  and  men  had  learned  to 
defend  the  usage  gravely  and  without  a  blush,  insisting 
that  the  man  who  had  paid  a  heavy  price  for  such  a  position 
was  more  likely  to  avoid  what  might  occasion  the  loss  of  it, 
than  the  man  who  obtained  it  without  cost.  Our  early 
ITorman  kings  obtained  large  sums  by  this  means.  In 
reality,  the  monarchs  of  this  interval  felt  little  scruple  about 
the  modes  of  obtaining  money,  and  appear  to  have  thought, 
that  while  it  certainly  became  them  to  see  that  the  subject 
was  neither  despoiled  nor  oppressed  by  others,  such  acts  as 
practised  by  themselves  could  rarely  be  a  just  ground  for 
complaint.* 

It  is  notorious  that  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  there  was 
no  court  in  the  land  in  which  justice  was  not  known  to  be 
bought  and  sold  as  a  common  article  of  merchandise.  The 
oppressive  means  by  which  the  crown  enriched  itself  daily 
in  those  times,  seem  to  us  almost  incredible.  Money  was 
sometimes  given  to  appease  the  personal  anger  of  the  king, 
or  to  obtain  his  good  offices  against  an  adversary.  Fines 
were  extorted  as  the  condition  of  allpwing  men  to  implead 

*  Rolls  and  Records  of  the  Court  held  before  the  King's  Justiciars,  i.  Intro- 
duction. No  name  is  more  disg:racefully  associated  with  the  judicial  corruptness 
of  his  times  than  that  of  Richard  I.,  who  seems  to  have  inherited  the  covetousness 
of  the  first  William,  along  with  his  military  passion. 

During  Richard's  absence  from  the  kingdom,  his  brother  John  acted  with 
the  nobles  who  were  intent  on  removing  Longchamp  from  the  office  of  justiciar. 
John  one  day  came  to  a  meeting,  and  said  that  Longchamp  was  prepared  to  defy 
them  all  if  he  would  only  himself  grant  him  liis  protection,  for  which  he  was 
ready  to  pay  700Z.  within  a  week.  John  added  :  '  I  am  in  want  of  money — a 
word  to  the  wise,'  and  retired.  The  nobles  arranged  to  lend  John  500/.  to  pre- 
vent his  virtually  re-selling  the  office  of  justiciar  for  700/. — Ibid.  Ixiv.  Ixv. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        327 

a  certain  person,  to  sue  in  a  certain  court,  or  to  enter  upon  book  iii 

lands  wliicli    tliey  had    recovered    by  law.     Money  was     

accepted  from  a  suitor  to  help  him  against  his  antagonist, 
and  sometimes  from  both  suitors  to  help  each  against  the 
other.  In  the  latter  case,  it  is  supposed  there  was  usually 
sufficient  grace  left  to  ensure  the  return  of  the  money  to  the 
suitor  who  had  not  been  successful.  The  Jews,  and  persons 
charged  with  criminal  offences,  were  made  to  be  a  prolific 
source  of  revenue.  When  kings  could  thus  sell  what  should 
be  priceless,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  what  inferior  judges  would 
do.  The  privileges,  and  the  most  natural  rights,  of  towns, 
were  purchased  at  heavy  costs,  and  on  every  confirmation 
of  such  grants  new  exactions  were  made.  But,  of  all  the 
forms  of  tyranny  prevalent  at  that  time,  none  is  so  extra- 
ordinary as  the  power  which  the  king  was  allowed  to 
assume  over  the  persons  and  possessions  of  wards,  and  with 
regard  to  marriage  generally,  among  the  families  of  his 
nobles.  The  wards  were  commonly  disposed  of  to  the 
highest  bidder ;  and  a  tenant  in  chief  of  the  crown  found 
one  consequence  of  his  elevation  to  be,  that  he  could  neither 
marry  himself,  nor  dispose  of  his  children  in  marriage, 
according  to  his  inclination,  without  purchasing  that  liberty 
by  a  considerable  payment  to  the  sovereign.* 

But  good  came  from  these  excesses.  Normans  and  Eng- 
lish were  thus  prepared,  from  the  feeling  of  their  common 
wrongs,  to  act  together  for  their  common  deliverance.  The 
provisions  of  Magna  Chart  a  point  to  nearly  all  the  customs 
and  abuses  above  mentioned  as  among  the  grievances  of 
the  times. 

But  these  exactions  were  made,  for  the  most  part,  on  Difficulty  of 

,        -^  resistance. 

individuals,  or  on  isolated  bodies  of  men.  It  is  true,  the 
individuals,  and  the  bodies  so  dealt  with,  belonged  to 
classes.  But  the  individual  noble  found  it  difficult  to  move 
his  brother  nobles  ;  and  the  humble  burgesses  of  one  town 
possessed  little  means  of  influencing  their  brother  burgesses 

*  Towards  the  close  of  this  period  councils  forbad  the  holding  of  tourna- 
ments, but  Richard  I.  presumed  to  grant  dispensations  from  such  canons,  and 
exacted  a  fee  for  so  doing. — Rolls  and  Records,  Introd.  §  xxii.  Madox,  c.  iii. 
§  6,  T  ;  c.  vi.  §  1  ;  c.  vii.-xiv.  On  nearly  all  questions  touching  our  constitu- 
tional history  during  this  period  the  work  of  Madox  is  invaluable. 


328 


NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK  HI. 
Chap.  4. 


Power  of 
the  crown 
from  its 
great 
wealth. 


of  other  towns.  Could  either  have  succeeded,  the  move- 
ment would  have  been,  at  best,  but  the  movement  of  a  par- 
ticular grade  or  class.  Tims  the  power  to  resist  was  to  be 
for  a  w^hile  divided  and  w^eak,  while  the  power  to  oppress 
remained  central  and  strong. 

It  is  to  be  further  observed,  that  with  so  many  corrupt 
sources  of  revenue  open  to  them,  and  w^ith  such  large  per- 
sonal domains,  the  kings  of  this  period  were  much  less 
dependent  than  their  successors  on  general  taxation.  The 
wealth  of  the  crown  lands  was  enormous,  and  these  the  king 
could  tax  at  his  own  discretion,  as  being  his  ow^n.  He 
could  levy  taxes,  also,  on  all  towns  not  ceded  to  his  nobles. 
To  the  taxes,  under  the  name  of  tallage,  levied  on  the  royal 
lands  and  on  the  towns,  no  limit  was  assigned,  save  such  as 
prudence,  or  some  sense  of  justice  and  humanity,  might 
suggest.*  Tlie  result  of  a  tallage  on  the  lands  of  the  king 
was,  in  most  instances,  a  supply  of  money ;  the  result  of 
it  on  the  lands  of  his  barons,  was  a  supply  of  men.  These 
statements  do  not  comprehend  everything  relating  to  this 
obscure  and  entangled  subject,  and  some  of  them  may  be 
open  to  a  degree  of  exception  ;  but  they  give,  w^e  believe, 
the  substance  of  the  matter  as  it  stood.  The  liberties  of 
the  subject  have  grown  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  crown. 
But  our  early  JSTorman  kings  knew  little  of  such  necessities. 
During  the  first  three  or  four  reigns  after  the  Conquest,  the 
council  of  barons  did  not  concern  themselves  about  what 
the  king  might  choose  to  do  in  respect  to  the  occupants 
of  his  own  lands,  nor  in  relation  to  the  towns  immediately 
subject  to  him.  Until  the  age  of  the  Great  Charter,  accord- 
ingly, tallages,  as  we  have  stated,  were  imposed  pretty  much 

*  The  tallage  rendered  to  the  king  (excluding  the  tallage  of  the  Jews)  was 
raised  '  upon  his  demeasnes,  escheats,  and  wardships,  and  upon  the  burghs  and 
towns  of  the  realm.' — Madox,  c.  xvii.  480.  When  the  contribution  was  made 
for  lands  that  were  not  of  military  tenure,  it  was  called  Iddage^  or  aid  ;  when  it 
was  paid  out  of  knights'  fees,  it  was  called  scutage ;  strictly  speaking,  it  was  a 
tallage  only  as  it  came  from  towns  and  boroughs.  It  came  upon  all  towns,  and 
less  heavily  on  the  counties  than  on  the  towns. — Ibid.  c.  xvii. .  When  Madox 
Bays  that  the  king  imposed  tallage  on  the  '  towns  of  the  realm,''  he  of  course 
excepts  those  ceded  in  whole  or  in  part  to  the  local  nobility — all  beside  were  royal 
towns.  '  If  men  were  not  the  king's  immediate  tenants,  they  were  not  tallage- 
able  to  the  king,  but  to  their  immediate  lord.' — Ibid.  498.  '  But  such  inferior 
lord  could  not  rightfully  raise  tallage  oft.ener,  or  in  any  other  manner  than  the 
king  raised  tallage  on  his  own  demeasnes.' — Ibid.  516. 


THE   CONQUEST  m  ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVERNMENT.        329 

at  the  king's  will.     But  where  there  is  no  will  of  a  repre-  book  m. 
sentative  body  to  impose  restrictions,  there  remains  the  law     — - 
of  circumstances,  to  which  the  most  arbitrary  are  bound 
more  or  less  to  conform  themselves. 

It  is  not  until  we  reach  the  reign  of  Richard  I.  that  tal-  orifrin  of 
lages  become  known  under  the  name  of  subsidies — and  such  tenths  and 
names  as  tenths  and  fifteenths.    These  terms  indicate  the 
growth  of  system  in  the  business  of  taxation.    They  sup- 
pose a  definite  and  settled  basis  of  assessment  common  to 
the  whole  kingdom.* 

The  tax  called  Danegelt  was  of  Saxon  origin.  It  had  Danegeit 
been  imposed  on  all  the  counties  of  England,  and  was  de- 
signed to  supply  a  fund  for  making  special  provision  against 
invasions  from  the  north  of  Europe.  It  was  continued  after 
the  Conquest  under  the  same  name,  and  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. But  as  the  danger,  to  which  it  pointed  by  its  designa- 
tion, died  away,  the  impost  itself  became  irregular,  partial, 
and  at  length  ceased  to  be  levied.     It  was  the  ship-money  - 

of  those  days,  and  was  paid  for  the  last  time  soon  after  the 
accession  of  Henry  Il.f 

Of  course,  the  king  imposed  duties  on  imports  and  ex-  Duties  on 
ports  ;  and  this  he  appears  to  have  done  on  his  own  authority,  exports.  '^"^ 
This  branch  of  revenue  was  generally  farmed  by  contrac- 
tors. The  articles  on  which  the  heaviest  duties  were  paid, 
were  wine,  wool,  and  leather.  Thus  early,  too,  consider- 
able sums  were  obtained  by  the  sale  of  patents  and  monop- 
olies. In  the  notice  of  London  dues,  in  the  reign  of  Richard 
I.,  we  find  the  first  mention  of  tin,  as  an  article  of  traffic, 
since  the  departure  of  the  Romans.:!: 

We  have  thus  glanced  at  some  great  facts  indicating  the  Retrospect, 
effect  of  the  ^Norman  Conquest  on  Government  in  England. 
We  have  seen  that  the  great  proprietors  among  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  at  that  time  were  comparatively  few  in  number. 
Even  among  these  few,  the  earl  Waltheof  was  almost  the 

*  Tenths  and  fifteenths  were  levied  only  on  'moveables.'  In  1301,  all  the 
household  furniture,  utensils,  clothes,  money,  horses,  corn,  and  other  provisions 
in  the  town  of  Colchester  were  valued  by  the  tax-gatherers  at  518/.  16s.  0|^c?.  ; 
the  fifteenth  on  which  yielded  34/.  12s.  7</.— Eden's  State  of  the  Poor,  26.  A 
fifteenth  was  a  fifteenth  on  the  rated  value  of  such  property,  and  a  tenth  was  a 
tenth  ;  but  the  rating  seems  to  have  been  very  low. — Brady,  On  Boroughs,  69. 
f  Madox,  c.  xvii.  475-480.  %  Ibid.  c.  xviii. 


330  NORMANS    AND   ENGLISH. 

^Cni^  "^"  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  could  be  said  to  be  at  all  formidable.     With 

liim  fell  the  last  hope  of  the  Englisb.    This  was  in  less  than 

seven  years  after  the  battle  of  Hastings.  The  wealth  and 
power  of  the  Saxon  nobility  passed  thus  suddenly  and 
completely  into  other  hands.  The  enemy  had  not  only 
killed,  but  had  taken  j)ossession,  and  ruled  as  it  pleased 
him.  Those  subject  to  his  will  suffered  long  from  his 
scorn,  his  spoliation,  and  his  tyranny. 

Good  result-        But  the  cffect  of  tliis  change  was  not  all  evil.    Tlie  Nor- 

ingfrom  *-'  /-\    i 

the  Con-  man  government  proved  to  be  a  strong  government.  Only 
by  such  a  government  could  that  old  enemy  the  Dane  be 
taught  to  respect  the  shores  of  this  island.  In  securing  the 
kingdom  against  all  further  danger  from  that  quarter,  the 
^Normans  did  a  good  work.  And  though,  by  their  settle- 
ment in  England,  they  added  still  another  race  to  that  ever- 
fretting:  mixture  of  races  which  had  found  their  home  in 
this  country,  they  came  as  the  new  and  more  powerful  ele- 

»  ment  which  was  to  contribute  to  give  a  new  unity  to  the 

w^hole.  The  Saxons  had  only  partially  vanquished  the 
Britons.  The  lesser  states  of  the  Heptarchy  had  submitted 
but  imperfectly  to  the  greater.  The  struggle  between  the 
Saxons  and  the  Danes  had  issued  in  an  angry  compromise, 
rather  than  in  a  peaceful  settlement.  The  Normans  were 
the  first  real  masters  of  the  island  since  tlie  departure  of  the 
Romans.  Under  the  kings  of  this  race,  England  became 
properly  a  kingdom,  compact,  potent,  and  promised  to  be 
some  day  equal  to  great  things. 

Oversight  But  great  politicians  are  not  wise  at  all  times.     An  ex- 

of  the  Con-  ^  ..  .  r«i  J^      •         \.'      j.        rr\ 

queror.  ccss  01  precaution  IS  sometimes  lata!  to  tlieir  object,  llie 
Conqueror  was  solicitous  to  be  known  in  history  as  the 
founder  of  a  dynasty.  With  this  view,  his  forethought 
was  exercised  to  bequeath  large  powers  to  his  successors. 
But  he  could  not  ensure  that  the  men  to  wield  those  powers 
should  be  always  moderate  and  wise  men.  In  the  absence 
of  this  security,  the  greater  the  power  vested  in  the  crown, 
the  greater  the  danger  of  excess  on  the  part  of  its  possessor, 
and  the  greater  the  danger  of  the  disaffection  naturally 
generated  by  excess.  Excesses  came,  and  attempts  were 
made,  from  time  to  time,  to  abate  the  hostile  feeling  thus 


THE   CONQTJEST   IN   ITS   BELATION   TO   GOVEENMENT.        331 

awakened.    Some  good  laws  and  usafijes  which  had  obtained  ^.9^^  "^ 

^  ^.  Chap,  4. 

in  England,  were  ceded  to  the  English,  and  others  which     

had  obtained  in  Normandy,  were  ceded  to  the  Noi-mans. 
The  jealousies  which  grew  up  in  this  manner  between  the 
crown  and  the  aristocracy,  were  favourable  to  popular  lib- 
erty. Upon  occasions,  the  king  and  the  noble  bid  high  for- 
the  popular  suffrnge. 

Still,  the  abuses  of  an  almost  unbounded  prerogative  ^'^"0"**"' 
continued  to  be  great.  But  as  the  Normans  were  exposed  to  SnLhed. 
those  evils  only  in  a  somewhat  less  degree  than  the  Eng- 
lish, the  whole  kingdom  came  ere  long  to  have  its  reasons  for 
wishing  to  impose  some  restrictions  on  a  power  so  exorbi- 
tant. This  it  became  the  more  possible  to  do,  as  the  two 
races,  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered,  became  much 
blended  together  by  intermarriages  and  other  influences. 
This,  we  are  assured,  by  an  authority  of  the  time,  was  so 
much  the  tendency  of  aifairs  before  the  close  of  the  reign 
of  Henry  II.,  that  in  the  community  at  large,  the  distinc- 
tion between  Saxon  and  Norman  had  almost  disappeared. 
Even  the  differences  of  language  were  rapidly  passing 
away.* 

Nor  should  we  forget  to  refer  again  in  this  place  to  the 
educating  influence  of  those  wholesome  customs  which 
made  the  administration  of  the  king's  laws  depend  so  largely 
on  the  will  of  the  king's  subjects  in  the  capacity  of  jurors, 
always  as  witnesses,  if  not  always  as  judges.  It  may 
be  true  that  the  laws  administered  in  the  Hundred  court, 
and  in  the  County  court,  could  not  be  said  to  be  always 
the  old  Saxon  laws.  Nevertheless,  the  English  clung 
with  great  affection  to  those  tribunals,  and  to  the  pop- 
ular freedom  and  influence  inseparable  from  them.  The 
manner  of  obtaining  evidence,  and  the  mode  of  admin- 
istration generally,  remained,  in  most  respects,  as  they  had 
been  when  the  law  itself  was  without  change  from  foreign 
influences.  We  must  add,  that  the  controversy  of  Henry  S"S™" 
II.  with  Beeket,  the  long  absence  of  Richard  'l.  from  the  SThT^-' 
kingdom,  the  imbecility  and  vices  of  his  brother  John,  and,  pSy!" 
the  disasters  in  Normandy,  which  left  the  kings  of  England 

*  Dialogus  de  Scaccario,  lib.  i.  c.  x.  ' 


332  KORMAisrs  and  English. 

^cnS-  T*  '^it^^^^  ^^^^  resource  to  fall  back  upon  in  their  times  of 

weakness — all  these  were  circumstances  which  tended  to 

strengthen  the  heart  of  a  great  patriotic  party,  which  had 
become  intent  on  restraining  that  kingly  power  whence  so 
much  evil  had  come.  In  the  Great  Charter,  they  achieved 
more  than  the  past  had  allowed  them  to  promise  them- 
selves. 

Reign  of  The  reign  of  John  is  made  up  of  three  memorable  quar- 

rels— the  first  with  the  king  of  France,  the  second  with  the 
pope,  the  third  with  his  own  barons. 

msdisas-  Arthur,  duke  of   Brittany,  was  nephew  to  John,  and 

mandy.  vassal  to  •  Philip,  king  of  France.  John  murdered  his 
nephew,  or  at  least  caused  him  to  be  murdered ;  and  Philip 
took  up  arms  to  avenge  the  death  of  his  vassal.  Tlie  eifect 
was,  that  of  the  domains  of  the  English  crown  in  France, 
the  province  of  Guienne  alone  continued  in  any  sort  of 
relation  to  it. 

His  quarrel         Innoccnt  III.  was  the  last  of  the  Hildebrand  school  of 

with  Inno- 
cent III.      pontiffs.     He  insisted  that  the  vacant  see  of  Canterbury 

should  be  filled  by  an  ecclesiastic  chosen  by  the  monks  of 

Canterbury.     John  insisted  that  the  choice  should  be  with 

the  bishops  of  the  province.     The  former  course  would  be 

favourable  to  the  pretensions  of  the  Poman  see,  the  latter 

to  those  of  the  English  crown.    The  dispute  thus  originated 

rose  so  high,  that  the  kingdom  was  laid  under  an  interdict, 

the  king  himself  was  excommunicated,  and  the  king  of 

France  was  stimulated  by  Innocent  to  add  the  invasion  of 

England  to  his  invasion  of  Normandy.     To  such  a  state  of 

desertion  and  weakness  had  John  reduced  himself  by  his 

incapacity  and  his  vices,  that  he  saw  no  means  of  saving 

himself  except  by  making  his  submission  to  Innocent,  and 

consenting  to  hold  even  the  crown  of  England  as  a  fief  from 

the  papacy.  Having  descended  to  this  depth  of  degradation  in 

the  most  formal  manner,  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican,  which 

had  been  so  long  directed  against  him,  were  ready  to  be 

wielded  in  his  favour,  and  the  king  of  France  was  induced 

to  desist  from  his  threatened  invasion. 

These  were  extraordinary  humiliations.     But  they  were 

the  result  of  obvious  causes.    John's  deed  of  blood  disquali- 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO    GOVERNMENT.       333 

lied  liim  for  resisting  Philip  in  I^ormandy.     In  England,  book  iil 
his  craven  and  cruel  temper,  his  rapacity  and  oppressions,     — '- 
his   treachery  and   licentiousness,  were   such   as   to   have 
arrayed  nearly  all  men  against  him.     What  marvel  that 
such  a  man  should  be  no  match  for  Innocent  III. 

John  became  king  in  1199,  and  it  is  not  until  1215,  the 
last  year  but  one  of  his  reign,  that  the  disaffection  of  his 
barons  ripens  into  open  revolt.  This  disaffection  must  not 
be  supposed  to  have  resulted  from  large  political  specula- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  nobles  of  that  age.  The  insolent 
behaviour  of  the  king  towards  the  wives  and  daughters  of 
many  of  them,  was  one  strong  ingredient  in  the  cup  of 
their  resentment.  In  other  respects,  the  changes  desired 
consisted  of  remedies  against  evils,  everywhere  more  or  less 
felt,  which  flowed  naturally  from  the  abuses  of  the  feudal 
authority  on  the  part  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  on  the  part 
of  the  sovereign.  The  barons  knew,  that  in  attempting  to 
impose  new  restrictions  on  the  power  of  the  crown,  it  would 
be  necessary  that  their  own  power  should  become  subject 
to  new  limitations. 

Stephen  Langton,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  Archbishop 
been  raised  to  the  primacy  by  Innocent,  against  the  will  of 
the  king.  An  archbishop  so  promoted  was  not  likely  to 
expose  himself  to  the  resentment  of  his  patron  by  becoming 
a  patriot.  A  patriot,  however,  Langton  proved.  When 
John  resigned  the  kingdom  a  second  time  into  the  hands  of 
the  pope,  Langton  rebuked  the  silence  of  the  lay  peers  who 
were  present,  by  delivering  his  protest  against  the  proceed- 
ing. His  more  cultivated  mind  fitted  him  for  becoming 
eminently  serviceable  to  the  unlettered  barons  in  the  strug- 
gle to  which  they  were  committed.  At  Winchester  the 
king  had  been  constrained  to  pledge  himself  to  abolish  all 
unjust  laws,  and  to  restore  the  good  laws  of  the  Confessor. 
In  a  council  at  St.  Albans,  he  renewed  this  pledge. 

At  a  meeting  of  prelates  and  barons  in  St.  Paul's,  Lang-  ^he  baron& 
ton  produced  the  charter  attributed  to  Henry  L,  and  made 
it  clear  that  the  principles  there  laid  down  went  far  towards 
providing  against  the  abuses  which  had  become  so  vexa- 
tious and  formidable.     Strange  to  say,  important  as  were 


334  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^c?5  4"'  *^^^  provisions  of  this  charter,  it  appears  to  have  dropped 
out  of  men's  thoughts.  John  declared  he  had  never  heard 
of  it.  So  rude  or  unsettled  had  been  tjie  times  since  the 
days  of  the  first  Henry.  But  to  be  able  to  fall  back  thus 
on  the  laws  of  a  Norman  king,  in  seeking  the  redress  of  pre- 
sent grievances,  was  felt  to  be  a  great  advantage. 

The  next  meeting  of  the  barons  was  in  the  abbey  of  St. 
Edmundsbury,  where  the  substance  of  their  demands  was 
agreed  upon,  and  the  parties  swore  to  be  faithful  to  each 
other  until  those  demands  should  become  law.  From  St. 
Edmundsbury  they  directed  their  steps  towards  London, 
which  they  entered  in  military  array,  for  the  purpose  of 
presenting  their  complaints,  in  the  form  of  a  petition  to  the 
king.  John  replied  that  he  must  be  allowed  some  time  for 
consideration.  Both  parties  had  sought  the  good  offices 
of  the  pope  ;  but  Innocent  sided  with  the  king,  as  his  vassal, 
to  the  great  indignation  of  the  nobles.  In  Easter  week, 
both  parties  were  active  in  mustering  forces ;  but  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  king  were  few  compared  with  those  of  the 
barons.  John  took  possession  of  Oxford.  The  barons, 
with  more  than  two  thousand  knights,  and  other  armed 
men  in  proportion,  marched  to  within  fifteen  miles  of  that 
place.  Langton  and  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  who  were  still 
with  the  king,  were  deputed  to  ascertain  the  demands  of 
the  leaders  of  this  force.  Their  demands  were  committed  to 
writing,  probably  by  Langton  himself ;  and  on  his  return, 
the  archbishop  read  them  aloud  to  the  king,  along  with 
a  conclusion  which  stated,  that  if  these  terms  were  not 
accepted,  the  barons  were  pledged  to  take  possession  of  the 
royal  castles  and  domains,  as  precautions  for  their  own 
safety. 

John  not  only  rejected  these  demands,  but  swore  furious- 
ly that  he  would  never  submit  to  such  terms.  '  Why,'  said 
he,  in  bitter  accents,  '  why  do  they  not  demand  my  king- 
dom at  once  ? '  On  learning  that  the  king  had.  so  decided, 
the  barons  appointed  Fitzwalter  their  general.  Northamp- 
ton refused  them  admission ;  but  Bedford  gave  them  wel- 
come, and  London  secretly  invited  them  to  make  the  capital 
the  centre  of  operations.     The   pope  censured    all  these 


THE  CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   GOVERNMENT.        335 

proceedings.     Tlie  barons  paid  little  heed  to  his  denuncia-  book  iil 

tions.  They  summoned  all  of  their  order,  who  had  not  joined     

them,  to  do  so  without  delay,  on  pain  of  being  accounted 
enemies  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  to  the  peace  of 
the  kingdom. 

The  king  saw  himself  miserably  deserted.  Seven  attend- 
ants, some  of  whom  were  of  doubtful  fidelity,  were  all  that 
remained  with  him  in  his  retreat  at  Odiham.  Great  was 
his  anger  against  the  barons,  ceaseless  were  his  efforts  to 
secure  adherents,  at  any  cost,  or  from  any  quarter.  But 
his  passion  and  his  policy  were  alike  fruitless.  The  nation 
was  with  the  men  in  arms  against  him.  He  was  compelled, 
accordingly,  to  give  the  barons  a  meeting,  and  to  consider 
terms  of  agreement. 

From  Windsor  Castle  the  kins:  descended  to  a  level  Magna 

^  .  Charta. 

meadow-land  near  Staines,  known  by  the  name  of  Running- 
mead,  from  a  stream  which  passed  through  it.  There  the 
two  parties  encamped  at  a  given  distance.  In  the  interven- 
ing space  the  deputies  assembled,  and  conferences  com- 
menced, which  lasted  four  days.  At  length  the  Great 
Charter  received  the  royal  signature ;  and  the  Tower  and 
City  of  London  were  retained  by  the  barons  until  twenty- 
five  of  their  number  should  be  appointed  as  guardians  of 
the  liberties  of  England,  with  power  to  levy  war  against 
the  king,  if  necessary,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  said  lib- 
erties. 

As  the  grievances  against  which  the  provisions  of  the 
Great  Charter  were  directed  came  largely  from  the  feudal 
system,  they  were,  of  course,  such  as  would  naturally  pass 
away  with  that  system.  But  the  redress,  even  in  those 
cases,  was  sought  on  a  principle  possessing  a  permanent  sig- 
nificance and  value.  That  principle  was,  that  there  is  a 
power  in  the  subject  which  may  be  legitimately  exercised 
to  impose  restrictions  on  the  power  of  the  crown.  Ward- 
ship, and  other  feudal  usages,  together  with  the  abuses 
which  grew  up  with  them,  have  ceased ;  but  the  principle 
which  curbed  excesses  in  that  day,  has  survived  to  check 
tendencies  to  excess  in  other  forms,  in  the  same  quarter,  to 
our  own  time. 


33©  NOKMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^c25.4^'  "^^  *^^  grand  provisions  in  every  sclieme  of  liberty 
must  have  respect  to  the  security  of  person  and  property. 
On  the  first  of  these  points  the  Charter  says — '  I^o 
"  freeman's  body  shall  be  taken,  nor  imprisoned,  nor  dis- 
seised, nor  outlawed,  nor  banished,  nor  in  any  ways  be 
damaged,  nor  shall  the  king  send  him  to  prison  by  force, 
except  by  the  judgment  of  his  peers,  and  by  the  law 
of  the  land.'  On  the  second  point,  the  language  of  this 
memorable  document  is — '  'No  scutage  nor  aid  shall  be  im- 
posed on  the  kingdom,  except  by  the  common  council  of  the 
kingdom  ;  unless  it  be  to  redeem  the  king's  body,  to  make 
his  eldest  son  a  knight,  and  once  to  marry  his  eldest 
daughter ;  and  that  to  be  a  reasonable  aid ;  and  in  like 
manner  shall  it  be  concerning  the  Tallage  and  aids  of  the 
city  of  London  ;  and  of  other  cities,  which  from  this  time 
shall  have  their  liberties ;  and  that  the  city  of  London  shall 
fully  have  all  its  liberties  and  free  customs,  as  well  by  land 
as  by  water.'  The  Great  Charter,  accordingly,  was  a  sol- 
emn protest  against  the  evil  of  arbitrary  arrests  and  arbi- 
trary taxaticm.  It  placed  the  law  as  a  fence  about  the  per- 
son of  the  subject ;  and  in  regard  to  taxation,  it  placed  the 
authority  of  the  *  common  council  of  the  kingdom  '  abreast 
with  the  authority  of  the  king. 

It  is  true,  the  Charter  restricted  this  parliamentary  au- 
thority to  those  who  were  the  direct  tenants  of  the  crown — 
that  is,  to  the  aristocracy.  But  it  made  the  suffrage  of  that 
assembly  indispensable  to  the  action  of  the  crown  in  all 
matters  of  taxation  ;  and  provided,  moreover,  for  its  being 
at  all  times  duly  and  legally  convened.  It  is  in  the  very 
next  reign,  that  the  word  parliament  comes  to  be  under- 
stood as  including  a  house  of  commons* 

It  is  true,  also,  that  the  provisions  of  the  Great  Charter 
did  not  descend  more  than  indirectly  and  partially  to  the 
lowest  class— ^tlie  non-franchised  of  those  days.  But  even 
the  '  villein,'  often  little  above  the  serf,  was  not  to  be  dis- 
trained of  his  '  waggonage.'  * .   And  it  is  no  small  matter  to 

*  '  A  freeman  shall  not  be  amerced  for  a  small  offence,  but  only  according 
to  the  degree  of  the  offence ;  and  for  a  greater  delinquency,  according  to  the 
magnitude  of  his  delinquency,  saving  his  contenement ;  a  merchant  shall  be 
amerced  in  the  same  manner,  saving  his  merchandize ;  and  a  villein  shall  be 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   GOVEENMENT.        337 

find  tliese  haughty  barons  stipulating  that  there  shall  be  book  in. 

^  no  sale,  no  delay,  no  denial  of  justice '  in  the  case  of  the     

humblest  freeman.  This  stipulation  conferred  a  benefit  of 
much  value  on  a  large  portion  of  the  Saxon  population  of 
those  times.  Its  tendency  was  to  put  the  law  in  the  place 
of  the  lawlessness  both  of  the  king  and  of  the  noble.  It 
should  always  be  remembered,  that  the  barons  surrendered 
much  themselves,  in  calling  upon  the  king  to  make  this  sur- 
render. Many  evils  of  that  time  were  thus  abated  or  abol- 
ished, and  many  principles  were  avowed  or  assumed,  which 
were  to  be  applied  in  after  times  upon  a  scale  never  sus- 
pected by  those  who  had  evoked  them.  The  seeds  were  there ; 
the  vegetation  and  the  growth  would  come  in  its  season. 
Magna  Charta'  and  the  Charta  De  Foresta,  says  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  have  been  confirmed,  established,  and  commanded  to 
be  put  in  execution  by  thirty-two  several  acts  of  Parliament.' 
So  unwelcome  had  these  concessions  been  to  the  crown,  so 
precious  were  they  in  the  estimation  of  the  people.  Of  aU 
the  evils  introduced  by  the  Kormans,  the  most  arbitrary 
and  pitiless  were  the  forest  laws.  The  penalties  of  those 
laws  no  longer  extended  to  life  or  limb.* 

So  great,  on  the  whole,  was  the  change — the  Revolution 
in  Government — which  the  lapse  of  a  century  and  a  half 
from  the  Conquest  had  sufficed  to  bring  about. 

amerced  after  the  same  manner,  saving  to  him  his  wainage :  and  none  of  the 
aforesaid  amercements  shall  be  assessed,  but  by  the  oath  of  honest  and  lawful  men 
of  the  vicinage.' — c.  xv. 

*  In  our  statutes,  Magna  Charta  is  printed  as  a  law  of  the  ninth  year  of 
Henry  III.  But  it  is  in  fact  a  transcript  from  the  Parliament  roll  of  25  Edw,  I. 
, — B&rrington's  Observations  on  the  Statutes.  The  Charter  consisted  properly  of 
two  documents — the  Great  Charter,  and  the  Charter  of  the  Forests.  Both  were 
confirmed  by  Edward  in  the  year  above  mentioned.  It  is  remarkable  that  our 
great  law  writers,  Bracton,  Fleta,  and  Briton,  who  became  conspicuous  in  the 
age  following  that  of  the  Great  Charter,  make  little  use  of  that  document.  Was 
it  that  even  such  men  were  not  fully  alive  to  the  acquisition  that  had  been  made ; 
or  was  it  that  to  them,  as  lawyers,  popular  liberty  was  a  subject  of  less  interest 
than  scientific  law  ? 

Vol.  I.— 22 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE   COI^QUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   THE   CHURCH. 


^cSS."^'  ^PWO  changes  materially  affecting  the  character  of  the 
ori^hT^  Anglo-Saxon  church  took  place  soon  after  the  Conquest. 

coSrt?"'^^^  William  substituted  Normans  for  Saxons,  in  the  manner 
described,  in  the  chief  bishoprics  and  abbeys.  He  also 
instituted  the  tribunals  since  known  in  our  history  under 
the  name  of  the  spiritual  courts.  Among  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
the  clergy  and  laity  acted  very  much  togetlier,  both  in  the 
making  of  law  and  in  its  administration.  Thanes  and  eccle- 
siastics sat  on  the  same  bench,  not  only  in  the  Witanage- 
mote,  but  in  the  County  Court.  But  on  the  Continent,  the 
clergy  had  long  been  in  possession  of  their  separate  eccle- 
siastical courts,  distinct  from  the  courts  of  the  laity.  As 
the  objects  of  which  those  separate  courts  professed  to  take 
cognizance,  were  such  only  as  related  to  the  cure  of  souls, 
it  was  not  unnatural  that  the  great  law  in  such  courts 
should  be  the  canon  law.  But  inasmuch  as  human  respon- 
sibility has  to  do,  not  only  with  everything  directly  religious, 
but  with  everything  moral,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
attract  to  such  tribunals  a  multitude  of  cases  not  at  first 
contemplated  as  belonging  to  them.  Marriages,  wills,  and 
a  host  of  questions  resulting  from  them,  or  resembling  them, 
were  claimed  as  questions  proper  to  be  determined  by  this 
spiritual  authority.  And  as  the  law  of  these  courts  was  a 
distinct  law,  and  as  the  men  who  administered  it  became  a 
distinct  order  of  judges,  it  seemed  only  a  fitting  sequence 
to  such  a  policy,  that  the  clergy  should  account  themselves 
as  not  amenable,  in  any  circumstances,  to  the  tribunals  of 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHUECH.        339 

the  laity.    Such  a  subjection  of  the  spiritual  to  the  worldly,  book  iil 

it  was  maintained,  must  be  a  subjection  of  the  greater  to     

the  less.  The  Conqueror  was  far  from  meaning  that  the 
clergy  should  carry  their  notions  to  such  lengths.  He 
wished  to  purchase  their  attachment,  and  to  use  them  as 
counterpoise  to  the  undue  influence  of  his  nobles.  But  they 
were  not  to  be  bribed.  They  clung  to  the  independent 
power  thus  ceded  to  them.  So,  William  laid  up  stores  of 
vexation  for  those  who  should  come  after  him.* 

Two  other  chan2:es  in  relation  to  the  En2:lish  church,  Transnb- 

o  o       .  7  Btantiation 

scarcely  less  considerable  than  those  above  named,  belong  ^^""^^l^^ 
to  this  period.  The  doctrine  of  t;*ansubstantiation  was  now  <'^^'"sy- 
to  become  an  acknowledged  dogma  with  the  English  clergy, 
and  vigorous  efforts  were  to  be  made  to  enforce  upon  them 
the  law  of  celibacy.  The  tendency  of  both  these  move- 
ments was  manifestly  towards  the  increase  of  clerical  power. 
In  the  eucharist,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation,  the  humblest  priest  was  supposed  to  achieve  the 
greatest  of  miracles.  In  the  vow  of  celibacy,  relation  to 
the  church  was  accepted  in  place  of  all  family  relations,  and 
in  precedence  of  all  imaginable  relations.  Every  priest, 
according  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  the 
elaborated  sacramental  theory  to  which  that  doctrine  gave 
such  terrible  completeness,  became  a  functionary  possessed 
of  power  the  most  mysterious  and  unlimited ;  and  it  was 

*  Seldeni  Analed.  130.  NotoR  Eadmer.  168,  18Y.  Wilkin's  Concilia,  i. 
199.  Reeve's  Hist,  of  Eng.  Laio,  i.  c.  2.  The  language  of  the  ordinance  issued 
by  the  Conqueror  is  as  follows  :  '  That  no  bishop  nor  archdeacon  shall  hence- 
forth hold  place  de  legibus  episcopalibus  in  the  Hundred  court,  nor  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  secular  persons  any  cause  which  relates  to  the  cure  of  souls :  but 
that  whosoever  is  proceeded  against  for  any  cause  or  offence,  according  to  the 
episcopal  law,  shall  resort  to  some  place  which  the  bishop  shall  appoint,  and 
there  answer  to  the  charge,  and  do  what  is  right  towards  God  and  the  bishop,  not 
according  to  the  law  used  in  the  Hundred  court,  but  according  to  the  canons  and 
the  episcopal  law." 

Giannone,  in  his  Civil  History  of  Naples,  has  given  a  summary  of  the  pre- 
texts of  the  clergy  in  making  these  encroachments.  '  All  appeals,'  says  the  his- 
torian, '  being  carried  to  Rome,  care  was  taken  to  enlarge  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
episcopal  court,  and  to  extend  the  cognizance  of  the  ecclesiastical  judges  over 
more  persons  and  more  causes,  so  that  little  was  left  to  the  secular  magistrates 
to  trouble  themselves  about.  However,  Frederic  II.,  not  willing  to  gee  some 
enormous  crimes  of  the  clergy  go  unpunished,  was  wont  frequently  to  chastise 
them ;  but  Clement,  in  the  conditions  of  the  investiture  granted  to  Charles, 
would  have  it  stipulated  that  the  clergy  should  not  be  sued  before  a  secular  judge^ 
either  in  civil  or  criminal  cases,  except  in  those  which  concerned  fiefs.' — Bk. 
xix.  §  3. 


340  NORMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 

■^chS  "^'  ^^^y  consistent  that  men  supposed  to  be  possessed  of  an- 

thority  extraordinary,  should  be  separated  from  ordinary 

men  by  some  strong  lines  of  demarcation.  I^ot  that  the 
body  of  the  clergy  were  hypocrites  in  professing  to  regard 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  as  a  doctrine  essential  to 
salvation,  and  the  law  of  celibacy  as  a  pure  and  Christian 
law  for  the  priesthood.  Far  from  it.  Had  not  their  belief 
on  these  points  been  general  and  sincere,  ambitious  men 
could  not  have  used  them  so  effectually  to  the  purposes  to 
which  they  were  applied.  In  ecclesiastical  history,  the 
policy  of  the  few  becomes  strong,  only  too  commonly, 
through  the  fanaticism  of  the  many.  By  such  means,  the 
clergy  of  every  nation  in  Europe  became  one  body,  as  no 
other  class  of  men  had  ever  become.  The  young  became 
their  spiritual  offspring  in  baptism,  and  the  life  so  imparted 
ceased  not  to  be  dependent  on  their  services  until  the  ex- 
treme unction,  or  final  absolution,  gave  it  perfectness.  On 
this  ground,  they  claimed  to  be  accepted  as  the  fatherhood 
of  Christendom.  !N"ations  were  composed  of  their  children. 
Kings  owed  them  a  filial  reverence  and  submission.  This 
was  the  advanced  ground  to  which  clerical  pretensions  had 
attained  in  the  eleventh  century.  It  was  pretension  rest- 
ing professedly  on  a  mysterious  and  spiritual  basis,  but  used 
to  a  large  extent  to  ends  which  were  not  spiritual. 

Lanfranc.  .Lanfrauc,  wliosc  uamc  is  so  conspicuous  in  this  portion 

of  our  history,  was  a  native  of  Lombardy.  His  family  was 
of  senatorial  rank.  Having  studied  assiduously  at  Pavia, 
he  became  distinguished  by  his  knowledge  of  law,  and  by 
his  efforts  as  an  advocate  and  a  teacher.  In  1040,  from 
some  unknown  cause,  he  migrated,  with  a  considerable 
number  of  his  pupils,  into  Normandy,  and  settled  as  a 
teacher  at  Avranches.  His  power  of  acquisition,  and  his 
general  capacity,  were  of  a  high  order.  His  taste  for  learn- 
ing disqualified  him  for  seeking  distinction  in  military  life, 
and  the  church,  in  consequence,  presented  the  only  channel 
through  which  success,  in  the  measure  of  his  ambition, 
could  be  realized.  In  1042,  when  forty  years  of  age,  he 
relinquished  his  vocation  as  a  lay  teacher  at  Avranches, 
and  became  a  monk  in  the  poor  abbey  of  Bee.    Tlie  abbey 


THE  CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHTJECH.         341 

was  a  very  recent,  as  well  as  a  very  poor  foundation,  and  book  hi, 
the  monks  who  seem  to  have  been  as  vulgar  as  they  were  — '-' 
poor,  are  said  to  have  looked  on  the  brother  who  was  so 
much  in  advance  of  them  with  great  jealousy.  But  Lan- 
franc  brought  reputation  to  the  abbey,  both  by  tlie  strict- 
ness of  his  life,  and  by  his  learning ;  and,  rather  than  lose 
the  advantage  of  his  residence,  the  fraternity  were  at  length 
disposed  to  make  him  their  abbot.  When  invited  to  be- 
come archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Lanfranc  had  been  for  some 
time  abbot  of  Caen,  and  must  have  been  in  an  advanced 
age.  As  archbishop,  he  spared  no  pains  to  assimilate  the  • 
English  church  in  all  things  to  the  Roman,  as  the  Roman 
church  then  stood. ^'  Everything  commemorative  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  piety  tended  to  nourish  Anglo-Saxon  patriotism,  and 
on  that  ground  was  disparaged  by  the  Anglo-Kormans. 
Lanfranc  participated  in  this  feeling.  He  spoke  with  con- 
tempt of  the  learning,  and  piety,  and  customs  of  the  Eng- 
lish, even  of  their  saints  and  martyrs.  But  in  truth,  though 
the  name  of  Lanfranc  has  descended  to  us  almost  without 
reproach,  we  feel  bound  to  say  that  his  worldly  wisdom 
seems  to  have  been  greatly  in  advance  of  his  piety ;  and 
that  the  facts  of  his  history,  as  a  whole,  force  upon  us  the 
impression,  that  he  could  descend  to  artifice,  not  to  say 
craft,  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  and  that  his  inordinate 
ambition  is  as  little  to  be  doubted  as  his  knowledge  and 
sagacity.  When  the  marriage  of  William  and  Matilda  was 
contemplated,  Lanfranc  opposed  it  as  unlawful;  but  he 
afterwards  won  the  favour  of  the  duke  by  preparing  the  way 
for  that  event.  At  one  time,  he  saw  the  doctrine  of  the 
eucharist  very  much  as  Berengarius  saw  it ;  but  he  subse- 
quently distinguished  himself  as  the  great  antagonist  of  his 
former  friend  on  that  point.  When  invited  to  become  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  he  delivered  all  sorts  of  protests 
against  the  appointment ;  but,  as  primate  of  the  English 
church,  he  was  not  prepared  to  relinquish  a  vestige  of  the 
rights  or  emoluments  of  that  position.     All  this,  and  more, 

*  In  a  letter  to  pope  Alexander,  dated  1072,  he  addresses  the  pontiff  as  the 
person  to  whom  the  holy  church  throughout  the  whole  world  has  been  assuredly 
committed. — Wilkins,  Concilia,  i.  326. 


342  NOEMAl^S   AND   ENGLISH. 

^ch5.  5""  ^^J  a<i^it  of  satisfactory  explanations,  but  the  explanations 

are  not  given.* 

Sne^of "  Before  the  time  of  Lanfranc,  the  doctrine  of  transubstan- 

staSuon  tiation  was  a  sort  of  ultramontane  doctrine,  which  had  not 
theZctrine  ^^^^n  morc  than  partially  received  in  Europe.  The  Anglo- 
church  of  Saxon  clergy  knew  nothing  of  the  word  transubstantiation ; 
England.  ^^^^  •£  ^-^^^  kncw  anything  of  the  dogma  afterwards  denoted 
by  that  word,  that  dogma  had  not  a  place  among  the 
acknowledged  doctrines  of  their  own  church.    . 

Elfric,  a  contemporary  of  St.  Dunstan,  and  an  ecclesi- 
'astic  of  much  celebrity  in  his  time,  has  spoken  in  some  of 
his  epistles  concerning  the  nature  of  the  eucharist  in  a  man- 
ner which  repudiates  incidentally,  but  most  distinctly,  the 
ideas  regarding  it,  which  became  subsequently  the  generally 
acknowledged  doctrine  of  the  church.  This  letter  was  ad- 
dressed to  "Wulfstan,  archbishop  of  York  ;  and,  as  its  trans- 
lation into  the  vernacular  language  was  in  obedience  to  the 
request  of  that  prelate,  the  document  must  be  admitted  to 
be  of  no  mean  authority.  According  to  this  writer,  the 
*  housel  (host)  is  Christ's  body,  not  bodily,  but  spiritually — 
not  the  body  which  He  suffered  in,  but  the  body  of  which 
He  spake  when  He  blessed  the  bread  and  wine  a  night 
before  his  sufferings.  The  apostle,'  he  observes,  '  has  said 
of  the  Hebrews,  that  they  did  all  eat  of  the  same  ghostly 
meat,  and  they  all  did  drink  of  the  same  ghostly  drink. 
And  this,  he  said,  not  bodily,  but  ghostly,  Christ  being  not 
yet  born,  nor  his  blood  shed,  when  that  the  people  of 
Israel  ate  that  meat,  and  drank  of  that  stone.  Arid  the 
stone  was  not  (a  stone)  bodily,  though  he  said  so.  It  was 
the  same  mystery  in  the  old  law,  and  they  did  ghostly  sig- 
nify that  Gospel  housel  of  our  Saviour's  body  which  we 
consecrate  now.' 

In  a  homily  by  this  same  Elfric,  appointed  to  be  read 
to  the  people  in  the  language  spoken  by  them,  the  good 
abbot  repeats  the  doctrine  of  the  above  passage,  in  many 
forms,  and  with  illustrations  that  could  hardly  be  mistaken, 
the  substance  being,  that  nothing  in  this  service  was  to  be 

*  Lanfranci    Opera.     Vita  Lanf.     Ordericus,  lib.  iv.     Malmes.    de  Reg. 
lib.  i. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHUECH.         343 

understood  bodily  (or  literally),  '  but  that  all  was  to  be  un-  bo^ok  iil 

derstood  ghostly  (spiritually).'     Lanfranc's  zeal  in  support     

of  the  new  doctrine  was  only  in  harmony  with  his  general 
policy. 

The  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  as  we  have  intimated,  was 
an  article  of  discipline  to  which  the  church  of  Home  attach- 
ed great  importance  at  this  juncture.  To  put  an  end  to  the 
contrary  practice  was  one  of  the  great  reforms  to  which 
Gregory  YII.  had  applied  himself  with  the  sagacity  and 
energy  which  had  .distinguished  his  pontificate.  In  the 
scheme  of  this  pontiff,  every  primate  of  a  kingdom  was, 
or  ought  to  be,  the  most  kingly  person  in  it.  While  to 
himself  it  pertained  to  be  the  king  of  all  kings,  in  things 
spiritual  and  temporal,  every  crown  being  properly,  in  his 
view,  a  fief  holden  from  his  crown.  In  pursuance  of  this 
theory,  he  called  on  the  Conqueror  to  render  feudal  and 
filial  homage  to  him  for  the  kingdom  of  England.  The 
answer  of  William  was  a  blunt  rebuke,  which  prevented  any 
repetition  of  that  claim  in  his  time.*  But,  as  we  have 
stated,  the  clergy  could  not  be  expected  to  be  duly  subser- 
vient to  this  scheme  so  long  as  they  were  allowed  to  marry, 
and  to  be  connected  by  so  many  natural  sympathies  with 
the  secular  communities  around  them. 

In  a  council  convened  in  Winchester,  over  which  Lan-  Proceedinga 

,  111  1         (*     1  1  againstthe 

iranc  presided,  it  was  resolved  that  such  oi  the  clergy  as  married 
were  then  married  should  be  allowed  to  retain  their  wives  ; 
but  the  unmarried  were  forbidden  to  marry,  and  the  bishops 
in  future  were  not  to  ordain  any  man  w^ho  had  a  wife.f 
The  above  concession  in  favour  of  the  married  clergy  sug- 
gests that  they  must  then  have  formed  a  numerous  class. 
In  a  council  assembled  in  Westminster  in  1102,  over  which 
Anselm  presided,  a  canon  was  adopted  which  enjoined  celi- 
bacy on  the  clergy  in  the  most  absolute  terms,  requiring 
the  married  priests  to  put  away  their  wives.  Six  years 
later,  at  a  council  in  London,  in  which  the  king  and  the 
nobility,  as  well  as  the  prelates,  w^ere  present,  laws  still 
more  severe  were  passed  on  this  subject.     The  priests  and 

*  Seldeni  I^otce  ad  Eadmer.  104. — Dupin,  Cent.  XL  c.  5. 
\  Spelman,  Condi,  ii.  13. 


344:  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^chap  5"'  ^-^^^^  wives,  wlio  continued  together,  were  declared  guilty 
of  adultery,  excommunicated,  and  whatever  they  possessed 
-  was  pronounced  a  forfeiture  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese.* 
So  the  principle  gradually  gained  ground,  and  it  was  stead- 
ily insisted  on,  until  the  usage  of  the  English  church  became 
conformable  in  this  respect  to  the  usage  which  had  become 
general.  Of  course,  in  this  protracted  and  bitter  contro- 
versy— for  such  it  everywhere  proved  to  be — the  zealous 
churchmen  of  the  age  assigned  all  sorts  of  reasons  in  aid  of 
their  policy,  rather  than  the  great  reason  by  w^hich  the 
more  sagacious  of  them  appear  to  have  been  influenced. 
"With  some,  this  supposed  purity  of  the  ministers  of  religion 
was  no  doubt  viewed  as  indispensable  to  the  purity  of 
everything  belonging  to  their  office.  But  others  were  less 
simple-minded,  and  flattered  themselves  that  church  power 
would  be  safe  in  the  measure  in  which  it  should  be  made 
to  be  the  one  object  of  life  with  the  churchman. 

Lanfranc  died  in  1089,  two  years  after  the  accession  of 
William  Rufus.  William  kept  the  see  of  Canterbury  vacant 
for  several  years,  in  common  with  many  other  sees  and 
abbeys,  simply  that  he  might  appropriate  their  revenues 
to  his  own  uses.  But  early  in  1093  the  king  became  dan- 
gerously ill,  his  conscience  became  alarmed,  and  measures 
were  taken  by  his  order  to  fill  up  the  ecclesiastical  vacan- 
cies. The  see  of  Canterbury  again  passed  into  the  hands 
of  an  Italian,  in  the  person  of  Anselm,  a  native  of  Aosta 
in  Piedmont 

Anselm.  Ansclm  was  then  about  sixty  years  of  age.     He  had 

been  a  monk  in  the  abbey  of  Bee,  the  friend  of  Lanfranc, 
and  his  coadjutor  in  his  labours  as  a  teacher.  After  the 
removal  of  Lanfranc  from  Bee,  Anselm  became  abbot.  To 
much  of  the  literary  fame  of  his  predecessor,  he  added  a 
higher  reputation  for  sanctity ;  and  as  a  theologian.  He 
expressed  himself  as  most  unwilling  to  accept  the  new  dig- 
nity profl'ered  to  him.  lie  told  his  friends  that  he  saw  little 
but  discord  as  likely  to  arise  between  himself  and  the  king. 
^Nor  did  it  require  any  great  penetration  to  see  the  proba- 
bilities of  the  future  in  that  light.     The  temper  of  the  king 

*  Ibid.  ii.  23,  29 ;  Wilkins,  Concil.  i.  338;  Eadmer,  91,  94. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN    ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH.        345 

was  arbitrary,  violent,  and  rapacious.    Anselm  was  not  cov-  ^g^S  "^ 

etous  nor,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  worldly  ;  but  lie  was  bent     

on  extending  and  augmenting  tlic  privileges  of  his  order — 
the  power  and  grandeur  of  the  hierarchy.  In  Lanfranc 
there  was  much  of  the  broad  and  flexible  intelligence  which 
belongs  to  the  man  of  the  world.  He  was  both  scholar  and 
statesman — one  of  a  large  class  of  mon  who  attained  to  this 
double  eminence  during  the  Middle  Age.  But  Anselm 
was  a  man  of  a  more  scholastic  intellect,  more  of  a  devotee, 
and,  from  his  narrower  range  of  thought,  more  conscientious, 
and  more  obstinate.  As  commonly  happened  with  men  of 
his  description,  the  authority  which  he  seemed  most  reluc- 
tant to  accept,  was  an  authority  of  which  he  was  to  the  last 
degree  jealous,  and  by  no  means  disposed  to  resign,  when  it 
had  once  been  assumed. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  Anselm  had  enemies  near  the  Dispute  be- 
person  of  the  kine^.    Between  the  men  about  William  Rufus,  seim  and 

•*-  *-"    ^  ^  ^  '  William 

and  the  new  archbishop,  there  could  be  little  in  common.  Kufus. 
The  first  complaint  of  the  king  was  that  the  heriot  paid  by 
the  primate — the  fine  to  the  crow^n  on  the  introduction  to  a 
new  fief — was  not  of  the  proper  amount.  But  his  anger 
became  great,  when  he  learnt  that  Anselm  had  presumed, 
on  his  own  authority,  to  acknowledge  the  claims  of  pope 
Urban  II.  in  preference  to  those  of  his  rival.  The  king 
insisted  that  on  all  such  questions  it  became  the  primate  to 
wait  for  the  judgment  of  his  sovereign,  and  to  conform  him- 
self to  that  judgment  when  given.  It  had  been  provided 
by  the  Conqueror  that  the  clergy  should  not  acknowledge 
any  pope  but  with  his  permission  ;  that  they  should  not 
publish  any  letters  from  Rome  until  approved  by  him  ;  that 
they  should  not  hold  any  council,  or  pass  any  canons,  with- 
out his  consent ;  that  they  should  not  pronounce  a  sentence 
of  excommunication  on  any  of  his  nobles  but  with  his  sanc- 
tion ;  and  that  no  ecclesiastic  should  leave  the  kingdom  at 
his  own  pleasure.^  Anselm  could  assent  to  no  such  doc- 
trine ;  and  was  a  man,  in  consequence,  who  should  never 
have  become  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Even  that  office, 
which  he  himself   had  received   from  the  king,  was  not 

*  Eadmer,  6  ;  Seldeni  Notce  ad  Eadmer.  104.    Wilkins,  Concilia^  \.  199. 


346 


NOKMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


Chap.  5. 


BOOK  III.  valid,  in  his  view,  until  confirmed  by  tlie  approval  of  the 
pope.  Tlie  king,  and  the  great  majority  of  the  English  prel- 
ates, declared  against  the  claims  of  Urban  II.,  and  thus  the 
embroilment  seemed  to  become  hopeless.  Not  long  after- 
wards, however,  the  king  surprised  Anselm  by  declaring 
himself  favourable  to  the  claims  of  Urban,  and  by  stating 
that  the  pallium  for  his  use  as  archbishop  had  been  sent  by 
his  holiness.  In  these  circumstances,  the  primate  found 
himself  obliged  to  accept  of  that  mark  of  papal  recognition 
from  the  hands  of  the  king,  in  place  of  receiving  it,  as  he 
had  hoped,  from  the  hands  of  the  pope,  as  the  supreme 
pastor,  in  person."^ 

But  the  peace  which  seemed  to  be  thus  restored  was  not 
of  long  continuance.  In  the  following  year,  the  king  charged 
the  primate  with  having  endangered  the  interests  of  the 
state  by  sending  a  less  number  of  retainers  to  the  aid  of  the 
crown,  in  a  military  exigency,  than  the  crown  was  entitled 
to  expect.  In  this  affair,  the  ill  mood  of  the  king  was  not 
more  conspicuous  than  the  pride  of  the  archbishop.  An- 
selm sought,  and  at  length  obtained,  permission  to  leave  the 
kingdom.  This  was  in  1097  ;  and  the  archbishop  continued 
an  exile,  in  France  or  Italy,  until  the  sudden  death  of  the 
king  in  llOO.f 

According  to  the  law  of  succession,  Eobert  should  have 
succeeded  to  his  brother  William.  But  at  the  moment 
when  the  throne  became  vacant,  Robert  was  at  a  distance 
with  the  Crusaders,  and  his  place  was  seized  by  his  younger 
brother  Henry.  It  became  Henry,  in  these  circumstances, 
to  be  mindful  of  everything  that  might  tend  to  conciliate 
the  nation,  and  especially  the  clergy.  He  removed  some 
obnoxious  officers ;  put  an  end  to  many  irritating  oppres- 
sions ;  bound  himself  at  his  coronation  by  the  oath  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  kings  ;  and,  recalling  Anselm  from  exile,  re- 
ceived him  with  every  mark  of  respect  and  favour.:}: 

But  a  few  days  only  after  the  arrival  of  the  primate 
there  were  signs  of  an  approaching  storm.  Henry  called 
on  the  archbishop  to  render  homage  to  him  in  the  usual 

*  Eadmer,  23-31.     Malms,  de  Pontif.  124,  125.     Anglia  Sacra,  I  164. 
f  Eadmer,  BY  et  seq.  X  Ibid.  56. 


Accession 
of  Henry  I. 


Dispute 
concerning 
investi- 
tures. 


THE   CONQTJEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   TIIE   CHURCH.         347 

form,  by  accepting  the  ring  and  crosier  from  his  hands,  as  ^c25  "^ 

the  symbols  of  his  investiture  with  the  rank  and  temporal-     

ities  of  his  see  by  the  crown.  Anselm,  in  place  of  comply- 
ing with  this  demand,  declined  to  do  so  in  the  most  explicit 
terms — referring  the  king  to  the  decree  of  a  council  assem- 
bled in  Eome  the  year  before,  which  declared,  that  any  lay- 
man conferring  investiture  in  that  manner,  and  any  priest 
accepting  it,  should  by  so  doing  incur  the  sentence  of  ex- 
communication.* Henry  of  course  felt,  that  what  a  num- 
ber of  ecclesiastics  at  Eome  might  exact,  even  with  the 
pope  at  their  head,  and  what  it  might  become  him  as  king 
of  England  to  acknowledge,  were  very  different  things.f 

But  the  controversy  which  grew  up  in  this  way,  between 
Anselm  and  Henry,  had  become  a  European  controversy. 
It  had  provoked  the  most  angry  discussions,  especially  in 
Germany,  where  circumstances  seemed  to  point  to  the  em- 
peror as  the  most  fitting  person  to  sustain  the  rights  of  the 
civil  power  against  this  new  form  of  assault  upon  it.  Tlie 
ceremony  itself  in  this  case  was  clearly  a  very  trivial  matter, 
but  the  interpretation  put  upon  it  by  the  court  of  Rome, 
and  the  uses  to  which  it  might  be  applied,  were  not  trivial. 

The  manner  in  which  the  popes  had  acquired  their  sup- 
posed right  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  nationaj  churches,  is 
a  story  which  spreads  itself  over  the  history  of  centuries. 
From  the  fourth  century  downwards,  every  opportunity 
was  seized  to  add  to  the  number  of  precedents  in  favour  of 
such  interventions,  and  a  precedent  once  gained  was  never 
forgotten.  The  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church,  in  com- 
mon with  that  of  nearly  all  churches,  had  furnished  its  share 
of  convenient  examples.  The  mission  of  Augustine  and  his 
monks  originated  with  Pope  Gregory  ;  and  that  pontiff  had 
naturally  much  to  do  with  the  early  history  of  Christianity 
in  this  country.    Subsequently,  Theodore,  a  monk  of  Tarsus, 

*  Eadmer,  56.  Wilkins,  Concilia,  I  379-382.  Pope  Paschal  instructed 
Anselm  to  excommunicate  all  persons,  bishops  or  laymen,  who  should  presume 
to  act  upon  the  king's  views  on  this  question. — Ibid. 

■}•  Paschal  complained  bitterly  to  Henry,  that  even  the  nuncios  of  the  apos- 
tolic see  were  not  allowed  to  enter  England  without  a  royal  warrant,  and  that 
cases  of  appeal  to  Rome  from  the  English  clei-gy  had  ceased.  Henry  proceeds 
so  far  as  to  counsel  the  pope  to  be  more  moderate,  lest  his  children  should  lose 
patience,  and  be  found  to  withdraw  themselves  from  his  obedience. 


348  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cni^.s"'  ^^^  received  as  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  on  the  recom- 
mendation  of  the  pope.  Wilfrid,  by  his  several  appeals  to 
Eome,  of  which  mention  has  been  made,  did  much  to  make 
the  idea  of  its  appellant  jurisdiction  and  spiritual  sover- 
eignty familiar  to  the  mind  of  the  English.  The  many 
English  kings,  moreover,  who  went  on  pilgrimage  to  the 
supposed  shrines  of  the  apostles  in  the  Eternal  City,  con- 
tributed in  so  doing  towards  laying  a  foundation  for  the 
extravagant  claims  of  the  papacy  which  followed.  The  ec- 
clesiastical customs  of  Europe  all  drifted  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. 

So  elated  did  the  papacy  become  by  these  signs  of  its 
growing  power,  that,  before  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century, 
the  pontiffs  aspired,  as  we  have  seen,  not  only  to  the  place 
of  kings,  but  clainied  to  be  possessed  of  a  dignity  higher 
than  any  imaginable  on  earth.  It  is  at  the  same  time  clear 
that  the  man  affecting  to  be  possessed  of  such  a  sovereignty 
must  have  subjects,  powerful  subjects,  obedient  subjects, 
and  many  of  them.  To  gain  such  subjects,  the  aspirant 
must  have  official  rank  to  confer,  large  wealth  to  distribute. 
The  patrimony  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  in  the  mean- 
while, is  very  small.  Hence,  if  rank  and  wealth  are  to  be 
at  the  disposal  of  a  pope  on  a  large  scale,  the  rank  and 
wealth  must  come  from  the  different  national  churches 
which  profess  submission  to  his  rule.  But  how  may  the 
requisite  hold  on  such  possessions  be  secured  ? 

The  reasoning  of  the  far-seeing  Gregory  YII.  was,  that 
the  offices  of  metropolitans,  bishops,  and  abbots,  the  great 
prizes  of  the  church,  being  all  spiritual  offices,  are  such  as 
should  not,  from  their  nature,  be  supposed  to  be  conferred, 
in  any  sense,  by  the  temporal  prince.  The  pontiff  is  the 
spiritual  head  of  Christendom.  Erom  him  alone  can  the 
right  to  exercise  spiritual  functions  proceed.  But  this  cus- 
tom of  receiving  the  ring  and  crosier  from  the  hands  of  a 
layman,  is  manifestly  a  receiving  of  the  emblems  of  spir- 
itual office  from  hands  not  spiritual.  This  unseemly  usage 
should  be  suppressed.  This  accomplished,  something  more 
than  a  veto  on  all  such  appointments  will  accrue  to  the 
Eoman  see.     The  initiative  in  the  filling  up  of  such  vacan 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH.        349 

cies  will  then  naturally  belong  to  tlie  pontiff,  or,  at  least,  book  nL 
such  a  proceeding  on  his  part  will  be  seen  to  be  only  con- .  — '-' 
sistent  with  the  position  ceded  to  him.  Under  the  shelter 
of  this  plea,  men  may  be  largely  introduced  into  such  influ- 
ential positions,  as  a  reward  for  services  to  the  apostolic 
see,  or  with  the  imderstanding  that  such  services  are  to  be 
rendered.  The  prince  may  be  left  to  require  homage  after 
the  ordinary  feudal  manner,  for  the  temporalities  held  from 
him ;  but  the  investiture  with  office  by  means  of  the  ring 
and  crofeier  being  once  surrendered  as  belonging  to  the 
papacy,  and  not  to  any  temporal  power,  a  key  to  the  wealth 
of.  every  national  church  in  Christendom  will  be  in  great 
part  secured. 

The  reader  will  see  that  in  this  controversy,  the  spiritual 
claims  of  the  papacy  are  so  used  as  to  serve  ends  of  no  very 
spiritual  description.  How  far  Anselm  saw  the  extent  in 
which  the  priestly  served  as  a  covert  for  the  wordly  in  these 
discussions,  we  know  not.  But  nothing  could  exceed  the 
obstinacy  with  which  he  laboured  to  uphold  the  pretensions 
of  his  order.  During  the  next  six  years,  the  question  at 
issue  between  the  king  of  England  and  the  arcfibishop  of 
Canterbury,  was  argued  several  tiynes,  on  either  side,  in 
Eome.  Anselm  made  a  journey  thither  to  urge  his  own 
suit  in  person.  But  on  all  these  occasions,  the  right  of  the 
king  to  grant  investiture  was  repudiated  and  condemned. 
The  utmost  that  could  at  length  be  obtained  was,  that  on 
condition  of  the  king's  consenting  to  abstain  from  this  cere- 
mony in  future,  the  archbishop  would  forthwith  remove  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  from  all  persons  who  had 
incurred  that  censure  during  these  disputes  ;  that  he  would 
also  consecrate  certain  prelates  and  abbots  whom  he  had 
hitherto  refused  to  consecrate ;  and  that  in  all  future  elec- 
tions of  bishops  and  abbots,  the  rights  of  the  king  in  rela- 
tion to  the  temporalities  of  the  benefice  should  be  secured 
by  homage,  but  not  in  the  way  of  investiture  by  the  use  of 
the  ring  and  crosier.* 

Henry's  patience  had  been  exhausted  by  these  conten-  Iff^^^f}' 

pute  con- 
*  Eadmer,   53-91.     Spelman,    Concil.  ii.   27.      Acta   Conciliorum^  Labbe,  cerning  in- 
torn,  vi.  ed.  Harduin.  yestitures. 


350 


NOKMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III.  tions. 

Chap.  5. 


and  what 
followed. 


Exemption 
of  religious 
houses. 


In  accepting  these  terms,  he  must  have  known  that 
he  had  virtually  ceded  the  point  at  issue.  But  he  persuaded 
himself  that  the  concession  made  concerning  his  right  in 
relation  to  the  temporalities  was  not  without  its  value,  and 
on  these  conditions  accordingly  peace  was  concluded.  It 
was  quite  true  that  nomination  to  a  vacant  bishopric  could 
be  of  small  value  to  the  person  nominated,  without  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  king,  who  could  alone  confer  the  temporalities  ; 
but  it  was  no  less  true  that  there  could  be  no  bishop  at  all, 
no  consecration  at  all,  without  the  sanction  of  the  pope, 
from  whom  alone,  according  to  the  admitted  theory,  spir- 
itual office  could  proceed.  The  Court  of  Kome  had  so  far 
succeeded,  as  to  become  possessed  of  a  pretext  which  was 
sufficient  to  secure  many  of  the  best  appointments  in  the 
English  church,  from  time  to  time,  to  its  instruments.  For, 
as  may  be  supposed,  the  plea  used  to  justify  interference 
with  the  disppsal  of  bishoprics,  was  soon  used  to  justify  in- 
terference with  the  disposal  of  benefices  of  less  value.  From 
this  time  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  remonstrances 
called  forth  by  encroachments  of  this  nature  are  almost 
incessant  in  our  history. 

Another  feature  of  change  in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of 
England  during  this  interval,  consisted  in  the  attempts 
made  by  some  of  the  religious  houses  to  "place  themselves 
under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  see  of  Eome,  secur- 
ing by  that  means  exemption  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
English  bishops.  As  these  monastic  brotherhoods  were 
British  subjects,  and  as  their  wealth  was  British  wealth, 
great  resistance  was  made  to  this  innovation.  But  the  re- 
sistance was  not  successful.  The  legatine  authority  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  custom  of  appeals  to  Home,  had  come  to  be 
so  familiar  to  all  men,  that  the  distance  between  the  Tliames 
and  the  Tiber  seemed  to  have  been  greatly  diminished. 
The  distance,  however,  was  what  it  had  always  been ;  and 
the  exempt  monks,  we  have  reason  to  fear,  were  often  only 
too  mindful  of  the  fact,  that  the  greater  the  distance  between 
themselves  and  their  superior  the  greater  would  be  their 
licence.  Rome,  on  the  other  hand,  was  equally  aware,  that 
the  effect  of  this  custom  would  be  to  furnish  a  new  pretext 


THE   CONQUEST   m   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHTECH.        351 

for  a  large  meddling  with  English  aifairs.     Many  abbeys  ^^^5  T' 

were  in  this  manner  declared  independent.     Great  privi-     

lesres  were  conferred  on  them.  But  it  was  notorious  that 
all  these  privileges  were  matters  of  purchase.  The  court 
where  the  purchases  were  made  had  become  the  most  venal 
in  Europe.  In  process  of  time,  however,  it  was  discovered 
that  the  rule  of  the  king  and  of  the  bishops  might  be  in 
many  respects  less  exacting  and  galling  than  that  of  the 
foreign  court,  and  the  tendency  of  such  a  discovery  was  to 
check  this  form  of  mischief.  '  It  should  be  added,  that  our 
kings  sometimes  took  precedence  of  the  pontiffs  in  confer- 
ring the  exemption  from  episcopal  oversight  on  monasteries. 
It  was  thus  that  some  of  the  heads  of  those  establishments 
rose  to  the  dignity  of  mitred  abbots.* 

The  reiffn  of  Henry  II.  extends  from  1145  to  1189.     Of  Thomas  i 

>^  T  '    n  Becket. 

this  interval,  the  space  from  1161  to  1170  was  chiefly  occu- 
pied in  the  struggle  between  this  monarch  and  Thomas  £t 
Becket.  The  history  of  this  extraordinary  man  is  illustra- 
tive in  many  respects  of  his  age.  As  we  descend  in  our 
annals  to  the  times  of  the  Anglo-l^ormans,  the  materials  of 
history  become  much  more  ample.  Some  of  the  most  val- 
uable of  these  contributions  consist  in  the  lives  of  distin- 
guished men.  But  the  men  whose  career  is  thus  made 
known  to  us  are  mostly  churchmen,  and  their  actions,  re- 
ported for  the  most  part  by  admirers  and  partisans,  are  so 
overlaid  with  fiction  and  eulogy,  as  to  render  it  necessary 
that  some  pains  should  be  taken  to  distinguish  between  the 
invented  and  the  probable.  Becket  is  one  of  the  men  whose 
history  has  been  written  by  writers  of  his  own  time,  and  in 
this  spirit. f 

Following  our  guides  on  this  subject  discreetly,  we  may 
venture  to  say  that  Becket  was  the  son  of  a  London  citizen 
in  good  circumstances  ;  that  his  mother  was  believed  to  be 
a  woman  of  Saracen  birth  ;  that  young  Becket's  studies  in 
London  and  Oxford  were  not  very  efficiently  prosecuted ; 
that  he  was  early  distinguished,  not  as  a  man  of  learning, 

*  Matt.  Paris,  VU.  Abbat.  46  et  seq.  Spelman,  Concil.  ii.  53-58.  Petr. 
Bless,  ep.  68.     Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey. 

\  Becket  had  specially  four  biographers,  Gervase,  Fitzstephen,  Robert  de 
Monte,  and  Hoveden. 


352  NOEMAKS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^cSJp.  5"'  ^^*  ^s  a  person  of  great  natural  talent,  and  most  agi-eeable 
manners  ;  that  the  favour  he  acquu-ed  with  Tlieobald,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  led  to  his  being  sent  on  an  ecclesias- 
tical negotiation  to  Eome  ;  that  he  acquitted  himself  in  that 
capacity  successfully,  and  was  rewarded  with  the  richest 
parsonage  in  England ;  that  his  views  expanded  with  liis 
success;  that  he  afterwards  studied  civil  law  at  Bologna 
and  Auxerre  ;  that  on  his  return  he  was  introduced  to  the 
king,  became  chancellor,  and  rose  so  high  in  the  royal  es- 
teem by  the  ability  which  he  brought  to  that  office,  and  by 
the  charm  of  his  companionship,  that  Henry  and  Becket 
grew  to  be  on  such  terms  of  intimacy  as  rarely  take  place 
between  sovereign  and  subject ;  that  the  sumptuousness 
and  splendour  of  the  chancellor's  establishment  were  such  as 
had  not  hitherto  been  seen  in  any  subject  of  the  British 
crown  ;  that  in  his  embassy  to  Paris  to  conduct  negotiations 
for  a  royal  marriage,  his  pageantries  were 'the  wonder  of,  all 
who  gazed  upon  them  ;  and  that  in  this  manner  of  life  he 
continued  until  some  way  past  forty  years  of  age — a  man 
more  at  home  in  hunting  and  hawking,  in  business  of  state, 
and  even  in  the  encounters  of  knighthood,  than  in  the 
modest  duties  of  a  clergyman. 

It  is  at  this  stage  in  Becket's  career  that  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury becomes  vacant,  and  to  the  amazement  of  every 
body,  the  king  recommends  his  chancellor  as  the  most  fit- 
ting man  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  English  church. 
The  clergy  oppose  the  nomination  as  unsuitable — as  scarcely 
decent.  But,  after  the  delay  of  some  thirteen  months, 
Becket  is  duly  consecrated.  The  secret  of  this  proceeding 
no  doubt  was,  that  Henry  had  good  reason  to  expect  that 
Becket  would  be  found  as  subservient  to  his  wishes  in  rela- 
tion to  the  church,  as  he  had  been  in  relation  to  the  state. 
Already,  the  chancellor  had  gone  far  enough  in  support  of 
the  king's  policy  to  warrant  this  expectation.*  But  when 
the  ecclesiastical  sovereignty  of  England — ^for  in  such  light 
the  primacy  was  viewed — came  within  the  sight  of  the 
chancellor,  a  change  passed  over  the  entire  complexion  of 

*  Stephan.  23.     Wilkins,   Ooncil.  I  431.     Lyttleton's  Henri/  11,  iii.  24. 
Petr.  Bless,  ep.  49.     Turner's  Hist.  i.  237. 


THE    CONQUEST   IN   ITS   BELA'HON   TO   THE   CHURCH.         353 

his  thoughts  and  purposes.  During  the  twelve  months  and  book  hi. 
more,  indeed,  which  intervened  between  his  nomination  by  — '-' 
the  king,  and  his  consecration,  this  change  of  spirit  and  in- 
tention is  reserved  as  a  secret  to  his  own  bosom.  But  tlie 
crosier  once  in  his  hand,  it  became  to  him  as  a  sceptre  of  a 
spiritual  kingdom,  and,  inasmuch  as  the  superstitions  of  the 
age  could  alone  give  strength  to  a  sovereignty  of  that  order, 
he  resolved  to  avail  himself  to  the  uttermost  of  power  in 
that  form.  Securely '►inducted,  he  is  the  gay  chancellor  no 
longer.  He  is  no  more  seen  at  the  head  of  his  festive  board. 
He  is  no  more  the  chief  figure  in  a  state  pageant  which  is 
to  fill  even  the  court  of  Paris  with  wonder.  He  takes  to 
sackcloth,  and  even  that  is  allowed  to  be  peopled  with  ver- 
min. The  water  he  drinks  is  made  nauseous  by  infusions 
of  fennel.  He  washes  the  feet  of  poor  men  daily  in  his  cell, 
and  sends  them  away  with  his  blessing  and  with  money. 
He  exposes  his  back  to  stripes.  He  affects  to  be  a  devout 
reader  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  is  supposed  to  be  much 
in  prayer.  He  wanders  about  in  gloomy  cloisters,  musing 
and  in  tears.  He  diffuses  his  charities  everywhere  around 
him.  But  when  he  ministers  at  the  altar,  his  coarse  and 
filthy  underclothing  is  covered  with  the  most  splendid  vest- 
ments.* 

Had  Becket  been  a  young  man,  with  a  character  only 
partially  developed,  it  might  have  been  less  difficult  to  look 
on  this  change  as  sincere.  Or  had  he  been  a  weak  man, 
liable  to  have  been  carried  away  by  an  ill-regulated  imagi- 
nation, sensibility,  and  conscientiousness,  belief  in  his  hon- 
est intentions  would  have  been  possible.  Or  had  this  great 
apparent  revolution  in  character  been  followed,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  ex-chancellor  Turketel,  by  a  life  of  unostenta- 
tious lowliness  and  piety,  a  charitable  judgment  of  the  j)he- 
nomenon  might  have  been  admissible.f    But  Becket,  as  we 

*  Steph.  24,  25. 

f  Turketel,  if  we  may  credit  the  account  that  has  reached  us  concerning 
him,  was  a  churchman  who  sustained  the  office  of  chancellor  under  Athelstan, 
Edmund,  and  Eldred,  and  had  been  engaged  in  the  military  as  well  as  in  the 
civil  affairs  of  his  time.  In  the  midst  of  his  popularity  and  power,  he  suddenly 
retired  to  the  ruined  abbey  of  Croyland,  restored  it,  Endowed  it,  and  then  passed 
nearly  thirty  years  of  his  "life  in  the  humble  and  useful  discharge  of  his  duties  as 
abbot.— Ingulf  25-52. 

Vol.  I.— 23 


354:  NORMANS    AND   ENGLISH. 

BOOK  III.  have  said,  was  now  more  than  forty  years  of  age.     He  was 

any  thing  but  a  weak  man.     From  this  time,  moreover,  he 

never  failed  to  give  proof  of  being,  as  he  had  always  been, 
one  of  the  most  haughty  and  ambitious  men  of  his  age. 
Change  of  object  there  was,  but  we  see  no  change  of  char- 
acter. By  whatever  sophistries  Becket  may  have  imposed 
upon  himself,  it  is  manifest  that  ambition  lay  at  the  basis 
of  bis  proceedings.  The  aim  of  that  ambition  was  nothing 
less  than  to  be  as  great  a  man  as  the  king  of  England  him- 
self. 

Tlie  first  step  of  the  archbishop,  in  pursuance  of  his  new 
policy,  was  to  resign  his  chancellorship.  This  was  an  ofiice 
commonly  filled  in  those  days  by  a  churchman.  Henry 
could  hardly  fail  to  interpret  this  change  as  ominous  of 
more.  He  was  much  displeased,  and  as  the  reason  assigned 
by  the  primate  was,  that  liis  episcopal  duties  were  more 
than  he  could  hope  faithfully  to  discharge,  Henry  called 
upon  him  to  resign  his  archdeaconry  and  his  parsonage. 
It  was  assumed  that  an  ecclesiastic  with  so  tender  a  con- 
science' could  never  wish  to  be  in  any  sense  a  pluralist. 
Becket  had  not  expected  such  a  move.  He  was  by  no 
means  disposed  to  be  obedient.  But  the  will  of  the  king 
was  unalterable.  The  flattering  reception  subsequently 
given  to  Becket  by  the  pope  at  Tours  came  as  oil  on  the 
flame  of  his  ambition.  On  his  return,  he  provoked  great 
hostility  by  reviving  some  old  claims  to  properties  said  to 
belong  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  but  which  had  passed  long 
since  into  other  hands.  The  king  was  called  upon  to  resign 
to  the  archbishop  the  town  and  castle  of  Kochester ;  and 
the  earl  of  Clare  was  summoned  to  surrender  the  castle  of 
Tonbridge  into  his  hands.  Some  lord  had  refused  to  admit 
a  priest  of  the  primate's  nomination  to  a  living.  Becket 
excommunicated  him.  Henry  remonstrated ;  but  was  haugh- 
tily informed  that  it  did  not  belong  to  the  king  to  say  who 
should  be  visited  with  church  censure  or  who  should  be 
absolved."^ 

The  grand  strife,  however,  began  when  Henry,  with  the 
consent  of  his  barons,  proposed  his  scheme  for  placing  the 

*  Diceto^  563.     Gervase,  Act  Pont  IGTO    Stephan.  25.     Quadril. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH.         355 

ecclesiastical  affairs  to  the  country  on  a  more  satisfactory  ^^,?5."^ 
basis  in  relation  to  the  crown.  This  scheme  is  contained  in  conltitl^ 
certain  canons  known  in  our  history  under  the  name  of  the  cikrendon. 
Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  The  design  of  these  constitu- 
tions was  to  subject  the  clergy,  on  all  questions  relating  to 
temporal  matters,  and  concerning  the  interests  of  the  laity, 
to  the  authority  of  the  crown.  The  clergyman  charged 
with  a  criminal  offence  might  be  tried  in  the  bishop's  court, 
but  it  must  be  with  the  cognizance  of  the  king's  court ;  and 
should  the  accused  be  found  guilty,  it  was  required  that  he 
should  be  delivered  to  the  magistrate,  to  be  punished  as 
though  he  were  a  layman.  Becket  insisted,  that  degrada- 
tion from  office  was  a  sufficient  punishment  in  all  such 
cases.  Another  constitution  prohibited  all  appeals  to  Rome 
without  the  consent  of  the  king  ;  another  required  that  no 
dignified  clergyman  should  leave  the  kingdom  without  the 
king's  licence ;  and  another  declared  that  no  tenant-in-chief 
of  the  crown,  no  officer  of  the  king's  household  or  belong- 
ing to  his  demesne,  should  be  excommunicated,  or"  should 
have  his  lands  laid  under  an  interdict,  without  the  king's 
knowledge  and  approval.  These  regulations  sufficiently 
indicate  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  king  and  his  barons.* 
In  the  check  thus  laid  on  the  Assumptions  of  the  clergy, 
no  more  was  attempted^  than  had  been  done  by  the  Con- 
queror, when  Hildebrand  himself  was  on  the  throne.  ]N'or 
was  any  thing  further  from  the  intention  of  William  than 
that  clergymen,  while  excluded  from  the  administration  of 
secular  law,  should  not  themselves  be  subject  to  it.  But  if 
William  I.  had  his  reasons  for  taking  this  course,  experience 
since  that  time  had  given  Henry  II.  much  more  weighty 
reasons  for  adhering  to  it.  Anselm  had  shown,  how  a  pri- 
mate of  the  English  church  might  use  the  authority  of  the 
papacy  to  contravene  and  humble  the  authority  of  the 
crown.  The  clergy,  moreover,  in  this  later  period,  had 
come  to  be  so  numerous,  and  were  many  of  them  so  home- 
less, that  according  to  the  most  credible  testimony,  a  large 
portion  of  the  crime  of  the  country  was  known  to  have  been 
perpetrated  by  them,  and  perpetrated  for  the  greater  part 

*  Wilkins's  Concilia,  i.  435. 


356  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^ch5  5"'  ^^*^^  impunity,   inasmuch   as   the   delinquent    ecclesiastic 
claimed  to  be  amenable  only  to  the  tribunals  of  his  order.* 
SSobfect  ]S'othing  was  more  natural  than  that  the  court  of  Rome 

poucy.^'"^'^  should  be  opposed  to  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon.  Wide 
was  the  distance  between  the  position  of  national  churches 
as  defined  by  those  constitutions,  and  as  presented  in  the 
scheme  of  Hildebrand.  Much  has  been  written  on  this  con- 
troversy between  Becket  and  his  sovereign,  but  nothing 
that  has  seemed  to  us  fairly  to  apprehend  the  points  really 
at  issue. 

It  may  seem  harsh  for  a  layman,  even  in  the  person  of 
a  king,  to  attempt  to  give  law  to  a  churchman  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  church  censures — and  the  king  did  say  to 
the  primate,  you  shall  not  excommunicate  any  of  my  nobles 
without  my  consent.  But  there  was  a  reason  for  this  inter- 
ference. Why  were  not  churchmen  content  with  having 
what  were  called  spiritual  censures  simply  spiritual  ?  Why 
were  they  so  eager  to  connect  civil  penalties  with  such  cen- 
sures, so  as  thereby  to  reduce  the  excommunicated  man  to 
the  condition  of  an  outlaw  ?  If  the  aid  of  the  magistrate  is 
to  be  invoked,  that  every  sentence  of  this  nature  may  be  as 
much  temporal  as  spiritual,  is  it  very  unreasonable  that  the 
civil  power  should  claim  to  have  something  to  do  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  courts  whence  such  sentences  are  issued  ? 
It  should  be  seen  at  a  glance,  that  it  was  the  temporal  con- 
sequences allied  with  such  censures  that  made  the  inter- 
ference of  the  temporal  authority,  not  only  reasonable,  but 
imperative,  if  the  temporal  interests  of  the  community  were 
to  be  secure.  In  like  manner,  the  law  which  required  that 
the  kiner  should  be  coo:nizant  of  all  communications  between 
the  clergy  and  the  court  of  Home,  was  based  on  the  fact 
that  the  censures  and  interdicts  issued  by  that  power  were 
of  a  nature  to  disturb,  not  only  the  ecclesiastical,  but  all 
the  civil  relations  of  the  kingdoms  where  they  were  intro- 
duced. So,  likewise,  the  temporalities  in  the  keeping  of  the 
crown  became  the  ground  of  its  claim  in  regard  to  investi- 

*  Acta  Concil.  Labbe,  vi.  1603,  1604.  Herib.  22.  Steph.  33.  The  king 
was  assured  by  his  judges  that  more  than  a  hundred  homicides  had  been  com- 
mitted by  clergymen  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  reign,  lesser  offences  being 
of  course  much  more  frequent. — Guil.  Newbrig.  lib.  ii.  c.  16. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHURCH.        357 

tures.    It  was  in  the  option  of  the  clergy  to  relinquish  those  sg^K  nL 

temporalities,  and  having  so  done,  to  claim  independence     

of  all  secular  interference  with  the  election  of  churchmen 
to  their  spiritual  office.  But  to  take  such  a  course  was  far 
from  their  thoughts.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  their 
policy  in  relation  to  civil  power  was  imiformly,  to  become 
strong,  in  every  possible  way,  by  its  means,  and  never  to 
become  weak  by  dividing  authority  with  it,  except  when 
unavoidable. 

One  of  the  best  informed  among  living  writers  on  Eng- 
lish history,  has  compared  the  conduct  of  our  kings,  in 
claiming  the  right  of  investiture,  to  the  conduct  of  a  sover- 
eign who  should  impose  a  mayor  or  a  recorder  on  the  city 
of  London  without  the  suffrage  of  its  citizens.*  But  it  is 
natural  to  ask — Did  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  Middle  Age  op- 
pose the  nomination  of  bishops  by  the  crown  because  they 
wished  them  to  be  chosen  by  the  people?  We  all  know 
they  meant  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  question  between  the 
bearers  of  the  '  two  swords,'  in  those  days,  was  not,  who 
shall  be  free,  but  to  which  of  us  shall  the  place  of  prece- 
dence belong  ?  Churchmen  were  always  pleased  when  they 
could  call  in  the  magistrate,  always  much  displeased  when 
they  found  that  by  so  doing  they  had  called  in  a  master.  ^ 
This  was  the  source  of  Becket's  displeasure — of  the  vexed 
life  he  lived  after  he  became  primate.  He  would  have  ac- 
cepted the  magistrate 'as  a  coadjutor,  but  he  was  not  pre- 
pared to  acknowledge  him  as  an  equal,  still  less  to  bow  to 
him  as  a  superior,  and  the  magistrate  with  w^hom  he  had  to 
do  was  not  prepared  to  enter  into  partnership  with  him  on 
such  terms.  Social  liberty  is  possible  only  as  the  civil 
power  is  supreme  for  civil  purposes  over  all  persons  and 
causes  whatsoever. 

It  happened  while  this  dispute  between  Becket   and  ^[^^^^ss^jj 
Henry  was  in  progress,  that  a  priest  in  Worcester  was 
charged  with  seducing  a  young  woman,  and  with  having 
murdered  her  father,  because  he  had  presumed  to  remon- 
strate.    Becket  would  not  suffer  even  this  miscreant  to  be 

*  Palgrave's  History  of  Normandy  and  England^  i.   Ill,  112. 


358  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

BOOK  in.  delivered  to  the  king's  justice.*    He  found,  however,  that 

this  high-handed  policy  was  not  acceptable  either  to  the 

court  or  the  country.  At  length,  he  promised  to  assent  to 
the  new  regulations.  But  when  required  to  do  so  publicly 
and  formally,  to  the  surprise  of  all  present,  he  refused.  The 
indignation  of  the  king  and  of  the  parliament  was  great. 
Prelates  and  knights  entreated  him  to  submit,  and  when 
persuasion  had  proved  fruitless,  the  anger  expressed,  and 
the  show  of  weapons,  were  such  as  to  menace  the  life  of  the 
obnoxious  primate.  Becket  promised  his  signature  once 
more.     On  the  morrow,  when  this  should  have  been  given, 

Becket  ap-    he  again  refused,  and  declared  that  he  should  remove  his 

iiome.^       cause  to  the  court  of  Rome. 

The  source  of  this  last  decision  is  not  difficult  to  discover. 
Becket  had  accepted  the  office  of  primate,  knowing  the  in- 
tentions of  the  king,  and  he  was  now  using  that  office  to 
frustrate  those  intentions.  Enough  had  happened  to  show 
that  so  deep  was  Henry's  sense  of  injury,  that  no  measure 
of  concession  in  the  future  would  now  suffice  to  repair  the 
mischiefs  of  the  past.  From  this  point,  in  consequence,  the 
struggle  became  desperate — a  struggle,  not  for  compromise 
or  adjustment,  so  much  as  for  victory.  Henry  might  rely 
on  his  kingly  authority,  on  the  loyalty  of  his  barons,  and 
on  the  adhesion  of  many  of  the  clergy.  Becket  hoped  to 
oppose  to  this  power  the  religious  prepossessions  of  the  age, 
the  spiritual  thunders  of  the  papacy,  and  the  jealousies, 
possibly,  of  foreign  courts. 

So  fixed  and  deep  was  the  resentment  of  Henry,  that 
more  than  one  attempt  of  Becket  to  soften  him  had  been 
repulsed.  Tlie  impeachment  of  the  archbishop  which  fol- 
lowed, in  the  j)arliament  of  ^Northampton,  made  it  clear 
that  the  king  meditated  nothing  less  than  his  deposition. 
But  the  passions  of  Henry  hurried  him  to  excess.  His  pro- 
ceedings began  to  bear  the  aspect  of  persecution.  Becket 
knew  that  the  scale  was  turning  in  his  favour.  In  their 
perplexity,  the  bishops  had  urged  that  the  matter  should  be 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the  pope.  Becket  saw  the 
advantage  of  this  proposal,  and  appealed  gladly  from  the 
*  Stephan.  33. 


TIIE   CONQUEST   IN    ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHUKCH.        359 

judgment  of  the  king,  the  parliament,  and  even  of  his  own  ^g^f^/J^- 
bishops,  to  the  decision  of  the  pontiff.*  

It  was  in  disguise,  apd  with  much  difficulty,  that  the  nia  flight 
primate  now  made  his  escape  to  the  Continent.  But  the 
pope,  to  the  great  mortification  of  the  fugitive,  was  not 
eager  to  espouse  his  cause.  The  pontiff  knew  that  the 
antecedents  of  Becket  were  far  from  being  in  harmony  with 
his  present  saintly  pretensions.  The  issue  of  such  a  quarrel 
in  such  hands  seemed  doubtful.  Much,  too,  there  was,  both 
in  the  position  and  in  the  personal  character  of  the  king  of 
England,  to  constitute  him  a  formidable  antagonist.  Hence, 
when  Becket  sent  his  deputies  to  Kome,  praying  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  appear  before  the  pontiff  in  his  own 
cause,  to  his  surprise,  his  presence  there  was  forbidden — 
lessons  on  moderation  were  read  to  him,  and  he  was  com- 
mended to  the  care  of  the  abbot  of  Pontigny,  that  in  the 
garb  of  a  Cistercian  monk  he  might  conform  for  a  time  to 
the  ascetic  discipline  of  that  order. 

After  six  years  of  exile,  a  hollow  truce  was  concluded  Apparent 
between  Becket  and  Henrv.    This  took  place  in  ]!S"ormandY.  tion  be- 
Becket  suspected  the  king's  sincerity,  and  his  own  restless  uenry  ana 
passions  had  been  rather  embittered  than  softened  by  his 
years  of  exile  and  adversity. f 

Much  had  been  done  during  his  absence,  both  by  pre-  ^^knt  pre- 
lates and  laymen,  in  defiance  of  his  authority,  and  one  of  ceedings. 
his  first  acts  after  his  apparent  restoration  was  to  send  into 
England  a  series  of  excommunications  which  he  had  ob- 
tained from  Rome,  against  the  parties  who  had  thus  offended 
him.  On  Christmas  day  he  added  other  anathemas  to  these, 
reading  them  himself  with  great  iDitterness  of  emphasis  from 
the  cathedral  pulpit.  In  these  proceedings  there  was  an 
open  violation  of  some  of  the  conditions  of  peace  on  which 
the  king  had  insisted  as  indispensable.  Henry  was  still  in 
Normandy.  But  tidings  of  these  things  reached  him,  and 
led  him  to  bewail  aloud  the  life  of  inquietude  to  which  he 
seemed  to  be  doomed  so  long  as  this  troubler  of  his  domin- 

f  Acta  Concil.  Labbe,  vi.  1610,  1611.  Gervase,  Chron.  1386-1392.  Quad- 
ril.  25-27     Stephanides,  85-38. 

*  His  letters  show  this :  see  passages  from  them  in  Turner's  Hist.  i. 
260-266. 


360  NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^ch5.  5"*  ^^^s  should  be  allowed  to  live.     Certain  of  his  attendants 

put  their  own  construction  on  this  language. 
The  Nor-  Several  knights  secretly  withdrew  from  the  court,  and 

make  their  reached  Canterbury  by  diiferent  roads.  Becket,  if  w^e  may 
?n  canteT  crcdit  the  accounts  given  by  his  partisans,  faced  the  threat- 
'"'^"  ening  aspect  of  these  men  unmoved — ^first  in  his  own  apart- 

ment, and  afterwards  in  the  cathedral.  Tlieir  demand  was 
that  he  should  remove  the  sentences  of  excommunication 
which  he  had  pronounced  since  his  return  on  the  bishops 
who  had  taken  part  with  the  king.  Tliis  he  sternly  refused, 
except  as  they  should  promise  that  obedience  to  the  deter- 
minations of  the  church  which  had  hitherto  been  demanded 
from  them  in  vain.  The  haughty  tone  and  manner  of  this 
reply,  and  a  rude  thrust  of  one  of  the  knights  to  a  distance 
from  his  person,  provoked  the  first  blow.  The  wound  in- 
flicted by  it  was  slight.  But  it  w^as  followed  by  a  second, 
Blcket!'^  and  a  third,  from  other  hands,  and  Becket  lay  a  dead  man 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar. 

We  scarcely  need  remind  the  reader,  how  by  reason  of 
this  foul  deed  Becket  rose  from  his  true  level,  as  an  ambi- 
tious ecclesiastic,  to  the  fictitious  rank  of  a  saint  and  a  mar- 
tyr ;  and  how  amidst  the  storm  of  reprobation  poured  forth 
ifoniy's       on  the  perpetrators  of  this  deed,  Henry  was  constrained  to 


tion 


do  a  base  penance  at  the  tomb  of  his  old  antagonist. 
£euS?in  Popular  feeling,  it  is  evident,  was  often  in  favour  of 

Slckef  Becket,  especially  towards  the  close  of  his  career.  If  not 
more  than  half  an  Englishman,  the  feeling  was  that  he  was 
not  a  E"onxian.  He  was  the  first  man  not  of  that  race  who 
had  risen  to  eminence  and  power  since  the  Conquest,  and 
his  battle  had  been  a  battle  with  a  proud  Norman  king.  It 
is  probable  that  these  facts  had  some  influence  on  the  old 
Saxon  feeling  of  the  country,  tliough  Becket  himself  never 
appealed  to  any  such  feeling.  The  Saxons  had  seen  the 
Normans  use  the  English  church  to  their  own  j)urposes,  and 
it  may  not  have  been  unjileasant  to  them  to  see  retribution 
spring  up  from  that  quarter.  It  should  be  remembered 
also,  that  through  the  Middle  Age,  the  influence  of  the 
clergy  had  been  generally  felt  by  the  people  to  be  favour- 
able, in  many  ways,  to  an  amelioration  of  their  condition. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN.  ITS   RELATION   TO   THE   CHTJECII.         361 

With  all  their  faults,  tlie  abbot  and  the  bishop  were,  in  book  iii 

'  Chap.  5. 

general,  better  masters  than  the  knight  or  the  baron.     It  is     

true,  in  the  Becket  controversy,  the  bishops  were  mostly 
with  the  king  ;  but  the  answer  of  the  Saxon  would  be,  that 
they  were  all  alien  bishops,  and  sycophants  to  the  alien 
power  which  had  advanced  them.  The  most  obvious  source, 
however,  of  the  popular  sympathy  in  favour  of  Becket,  is  to 
be  found  in  the  superstition  of  the  age. 

But  in  the  person  of  Becket  the  last  man  of  that  descrip-  f^^/'^lfn^^ 
tion  passed  away  from  our  history.  The  Wilfrids  and  Odos,  t^f'versy. 
the  Dunstans  and  Anselms  of  the  past,  had  prepared  the 
way  for  the  appearance  of  such  a  man  ;  but  such  men  are 
from  this  time  men  of  the  past.  Our  English  kings  have 
still  to  guard  their  rights  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
papacy ;  but  in  England,  the  "mitre  does  not  again  attempt 
to  divide  empire  with  the  crown.  Wolsey  was  the  servant 
of  his  king.  His  ambition  was  that  of  a  statesman.  The 
policy  of  Laud  was  more  priestly.  But  it  was  not  disloyal. 
Its  object  was  to  exalt  the  power  of  the  crown  at  the  cost 
of  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Henry  suspended  his  reforais, 
but  the  battle  had  been  fought,  and  the  victory  proved  in 
the  end  to  have  been  won. 

Tlie  ambition  and  venality  of  the  court  of  Bome  had  F>"?f;  i" 

•J  the  policy 

become  notorious  to  all  men.     Its  anathemas  had  lost  much  andinflu- 

•  ence  of  the 

of  their  power.  Men  began  to  breathe  more  freely.  Every  papaicourt. 
day,  the  natural  sense  of  right  in  society  seemed  to  be  grow- 
ing stronger,  and  the  ecclesiastical  sophistries  opposed  to 
that  feeling  were  becoming  less  available.  The  subsequent 
conduct  of  the  papacy  in  exacting  feudal  homage  from  king 
John,  and  in  condemning  the  Great  Charter,  and  the  men 
who  had  combined  to  secure  it,  deepened  the  disaffection 
towards  that  power.  Its  aims  will  soon  cease  to  be  those 
of  a  lofty  ambition.  Its  love  of  money,  and  of  the  agreea- 
ble things  which  money  may  command,  is  about  to  become 
its  master  passion. 

Concerning  the  state  of  religion  among  the  people,  while  state  of  re- 
such  strifes  were  perpetuated  by  its  ministers,  we  possess  il^^this"^'^' 
little  direct  information.     The  inferior  class  of  the  Saxon  ^^"^^ 
clergy,  who  were  allowed  to  retain  their  livings  after  the 


362  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

BOOK  III.  Conquest,  would  probably  be  assiduous  in  teaching  and 

consoling  tlieir  countrymen  through,  the  evil  times  that  had 

come  upon  them.  But  the  iNTorman  clergy,  while  possessed 
of  all  the  places  of  influence,  were  iguorant  of  the  language 
of  the  people,  and  could  neither  teach  themselves,  nor  know 
when  they  were  taught  by  others.  Nor  was  this  incompe- 
tency of  short  duration.  The  foreigners  were  w^ithout  aifec- 
tion,  either  for  the  people,  or  for  the  tongue  spoken  by 
them.  When  more  than  a  hundred  clergymen  were  be- 
lieved to  have  been  guilty  of  homicide  within  the  space  of 
ten  years,  the  order  must  have  sunk  very  low,  and  the  re- 
ligious feeling  that  could  have  tolerated  such  enormities 
must  have  been  such  as  we  can  hardly  imagine.  If  this 
was  the  state  of  affairs  under  such  a  king  as  Henry  II.,  what 
must  have  been  the  condition  of.  things  under  Stephen? 
We  look  back  to  the  reigns  of  the  Conqueror  and  Henry  I. 
as  intervals  of  comparative  order.  But  these  terms  could 
be  applied  only  partially  to  the  reign  of  William  ;  and  in 
the  reign  of  Henry,  Anselm,  pious  as  he  no  doubt  was,  had 
become  too  much  committed  to  disputes  with  the  king,  to 
have  time  left  in  which  to  do  much  for  the  piety  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  fact  that  Henry  II.  should  have  deemed  it  advisa- 
ble and  safe  to  raise  such  a  man  as  Becket  to  the  primacy, 
suggests  much  concerning  the  religious  ideas  of  the^  age — 
for  even  those  who  learnt  to  worship  the  archbishop  as  a 
saint  and  a  martyr,  were  bound  to  confess  that  his  sanctity 

'  must  have  come  to  him  after  his  elevation,  the  evidence  of 

its  existence  before  that  event  being  wholly  wanting.  In 
short,  there  is  scarcely  any  thing  on  the  surface  of  ecclesias- 
tical affairs  through  the  whole  of  this  period  to  lead  us  to 
think  favourably  of  the  piety  that  might  be  found  beneath. 
Nevertheless,  we  can  believe  that  piety  was  there.  The 
heart  of  man,  and  especially  the  heart  of  woman,  will  crave 
the  religious  in  some  form,  and  examples  of  the  most  unsel- 
fisTi  virtue,  and  of  sincere  religious  feeling,  may  often  be 
found  where  the  superficial  least  expect  to  find  them.  In 
such  circumstances,  a  spiritual  chemistry  may  be  at  work, 
sufficient  to  extract  for  itself  enough  of  nutriment  to  sus- 
tain a  truly  religious  life,  from  the  midst  of  elements  which 


THE  CONQUEST  IN   ITS   EELATION  TO   THE  CHITBCH.         363 

may  seem  to  be  rather  poisonous   than  wholesome.     As  ^^^J^^J^- 

nearly  five  hundred  religious  houses  made  their  appearance     

in  England  under  these  early  ISTorman  kings,  we  must  sup- 
pose the  action  of  strong  religious  feeling  somewhere.  Most 
of  those  foundations  were  rural  establishments.  To  find 
them,  you  have  to  follow  the  course  of  rivers  and  streams, 
and  to  penetrate  into  the  winding  and  often  obscure  valleys 
of  the  country.  Their  inmates,  it  must  be  remembered, 
consisted  mainly  of  pious  women,  who  had  not  found  hap- 
piness in  the  relations  in  which  women  ordinarily  find  it ;  or 
of  men  from  the  ranks  of  the  laity,  to  whom  the  experiences  of 
this  life,  or  the  hope  of  a  better,  have  been  such  as  to  dispose 
them  to  covet  the  seclusion  and  constraint  of  such  a  home. 
Every  such  establishment  was  a  hospitable  resting-place 
to  the  traveller  ;  a  school  for  those  who  would  be  skilled  in 
agriculture ;  one  of  the  few  places  where  books  might  be  • 
found,  and  education  obtained  ;  a  pattern  of  what  might  be 
done  by  association  and  order;  and  a  local  power  and 
authority,  which,  without  statute  or  canon  to  plead  in  sup- 
port of  its  usage,  arbitrated  differences,  and  promoted  har- 
mony among  the  surrounding  population.*  Concerning  the 
good  general  influence  of  monasteries  in  the  space  of  Eng- 
lish history  now  under  review,  tliere  is  no  room  to  doubt : 
but  concerning  the  religion  to  be  found  in  them  we  cannot 
speak  with  the  same  confidence.  We  have  evidence- that  the 
religious  feeling  in  such  communities  did  not  necessarily 
include  anything  distinctively  Christian — anything  beyond 
a  pagan  sort  of  reverence  for  some  patron  saint.f     But 

*'  In  many  cases,  authority  in  civil  matters  was  given  to  the  abbey  or  mon- 
astery by  royal  charter,  as  to  the  towns  of  those  times.  Thus  the  Chronicle  of 
Battle  Abbey  records  :  '^The  men  of  the  town,  on  account  of  the  very  great  dig- 
nity of  the  place,  are  called  burgesses.  If  these  in  any  way  deviate  from  custom- 
ary right,  and  be  sued  for  penalties,  the  cause  shall  be  tried  before  the  abbot  or 
monks,  or  their  deputies,  and  upon  conviction  they  shall  pay  a  fine  of  50  shil- 
lings, according  to  the  royal  custom,  and  give  a  bond  at  the  discretion  of  the 
president.  When  a  new  abbot  comes  to  office,  the  burgesses  shall  pay  him  100 
shillings  for  their  hberties.'  (20,  21.)  The  same  record  describes  certain  ser- 
vices— as  work  in  the  meadow  and  the  mill,  and  making  malt,  which  the  towns- 
men and  others  were  to  render  to  the  abbey  on  certain  equitable  conditions. 
Many  persons,  it  is  said,  were  brought  out  of  the  neighbouring  counties, 
and  some  from  beyond  seas,  to  hold  the  abbey  lands,  and  '  to  prepare  them- 
selves habitations,  according  to  the  distribution  of  the  abbots  and  monks.' — 
Ibid.  32. 

\  Chronica  Jocelini  de  Brakelonda.  Camden  Society.  1S4Q.  Nothing 
could  well  be  more  heathenish  than  the  picture  of  convent  life  furnished  by  this 


364  NOKMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSp/5"'  "though  we  see  that  the  communistic  interests  of  such  a 
brotherhood  might  be  rigorously  sustained,  with  scarc(}ly 
anything  really  Christian  to  sustain  it,  we  have  proof  that 
the  piety  existing  in  such  connexions  was  often  deeply  sin- 
cere, and  much  more  scriptural  than  might  have  been 
expected.*  We  have  said  that  books  were  to  be  found  in 
the  English  monasteries,  and,  we  may  add,  that  commonly 
they  were  books  there  to  be  read,  and  that  among  them,  in 
most  instances,  was  a  Bible,  or  at  least  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. In  those  days  no  one  attempted  to  set  up  the  au- 
thority of  the  sacred  writings  against  the  authority  of 
the  church ;  and  any  one,  accordingly,  having  access  to  the 
Yulgate,  and  capable  of  reading  it,  was  at  liberty  to  read 
it,  either  in  whole  or  in  part.f 

Progress  of         With  regard  to  towns  and  cities,  every  centre  of  that 

intelligenco  ,       ,         *-'  ,  . 

in  towns,  description  became,  in  those  early  times,  a  large  free- 
school,  in  which  the  artisan  and  the  trader  contributed  day 
by  day  to  the  education  of  each  other.  It  was  in  those 
places,  as  we  find  all  over  Europe,  that  men  first  began  to 

long  narrative,  the  narrative  in  which  our  contemporary  Mr.  Carlyle  has  found 
so  much  to  interest  him. 

*  Maitland  on  the  Dark  Ages,  a  book  which  should  be  read,  though  not  less 
one-sided  than  the  books  it  censures. 

f  To  the  negative  piety  of  the  abbot  Sampson  in  the  Jocelin  Chronicle,  we 
may  oppose  the  more  Christian  goodness  of  Odo,  prior  of  Canterbury,  who  be- 
came abbot  of  Battle  in  1175.  The  following  description  relates  to  him  from 
the  time  of  his  entrance  on  the  last  named  office.  It  is  written  by  a  contem- 
porary and  an  eye-witness,  and  subject  no  doubt  to  the  attestation  of  the  house. 
'  Now  he  began  to  be  more  devout  than  ever  in  his  prayers,  more  ardent  in 
divine  contemplations,  more  frequent  in  his  vigils,  more  energetic  in  exhorta- 
tions, and  in  works  worthy  of  imitation,  and  more  frequent  in  preaching  ;  thus 
becoming  a  pattern  to  all  of  a  holy  life  in  word  and  deed.  His  hospitality  knew 
no  respect  of  persons.  The  abbey  gates  stood  open  for  all  comers  who  needed 
refreshment  or  lodging.  For  those  persons  whom  the  rule  of  the  establishment 
forbade  to  sleep  within  the  abbey,  he  provided  entertainment  without  the  circuit 
of  its  walls.  In  all  divine  offices  in  the  abbey,  in  reading  and  in  meditation,  he 
associated  with  the  brethren  in  the  cloisters ;  he  took  his  food  in  the  refectory  ; 
in  short,  he  was  as  one  of  themselves.  In  his  carriage,  his  actions,  and  his 
habits,  there  was  nothing  of  pride,  nothing  that  savoured  of  levity.  As  to  his 
expositions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  his  treatises,  whatever  the  subject,  and 
whether  reduced  to  writing  or  preached  for  the  edification  of  his  hearers — some- 
times in  Latin,  sometimes  in  French,  and  often  for  the  benefit  of  the  unlearned 
common  people  in  the  mother  tongue — he  was  so  lucid,  so  eloquent,  and  so 
agreeable  to  all,  that  what  appeared  obscure,  or  had  been  but  imperfectly  handled 
by  the  ancient  doctors,  he  rendered  perfectly  intelligible.  And  the  devotion  of 
the  faithful  was  excited  so  much  the  more,  because  they  saw  that  he  did  not 
preach  one  thing  and  practise  another ;  for  what  he  uttered  with  his  lips  he 
carried  into  effect  in  his  conduct. — Chronicle  of  Battle  Abbey,  translated  by 
Mark  Antony  Lower,  M.A.,  178,  179. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS    EELATION   TO   THE   CHUECH.        365 

question  the  truth  of  the  received  dogmas  of  religion,  and  ^^^^  ^^^ 

the  sanctity  of  usages  connected  with  them.    And  it  should     

be  marked,  as  a  significant  fact,  that  this  tendency  towards 
scepticism  never  came  alone — religious  faith  and  religious 
feeling  of  some  kind,  often  branded  as  heresy,  never  failed 
to  come  up  beside  it.  The  restlessness  thus  indicated  was 
not  so  much  on  the  side  of  no  religion,  as  on  the  side  of 
something  better.  Evidence  enough  on  this  point  will  pre- 
sent itself  as  we  come  lower  down  in  our  annals.  Until 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  towns  of  Eng- 
land were  in  the  hands  of  the  secular,  or  parochial  clergy, 
who  were  obliged  to  adapt  themselves  in  a  measure  to  the 
growing  tendencies  of  feeling  and  thought  among  towns- 
men. 

It  was  durino;  the  rei^n  of  Henry  II,  that  a  small  band  Thirty  men 

11*  •-niTi  ^^^  women 

of  strangers  made  their  appearance  m  England,  whose  re- ^ie  as con- 
ligious  singularities  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  clergy,  heretics. 
They  consisted  of  about  thirty  men  and  women,  and  spoke 
the  German  language.  One  of  their  number,  named  Gerard, 
was  recognised  by  them  as  their  pastor.  Gerard  was  a 
man  of  learning,  and  answered  for  the  rest.  But  as  we 
know  nothing  of  these  people  except  as  they  are  described 
by  their  enemies  and  persecutors,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak 
with  certainty  concerning  their  religious  opinions.  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  they  professed  themselves  believers  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  ;  that  they  did  not  believe  in 
the  invocation  of  saints,  in  the  existence  of  purgatory,  or  in 
the  efficacy  of  j)rayers  for  the  dead  ;  that  on  these  grounds 
they  were  condemned  as  heretics  in  a  council  at  Oxford ; 
that  they  were  publicly  whipped  through  the  streets  of  that 
city ;  and,  stripped  of  nearly  the  whole  of  their  clothing, 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  were  turned  into  the  open  country, 
under  an  interdict  which  forbade  all  persons,  on  pain  of  ex- 
communication, to  render  them  the  slightest  assistance. 
They  all  died  a  lingering  death  from  cold  and  want !  So 
began  the  punishment  of  death  on  account  of  religious 
opinions  in  our  history.     This  was  in  IISO."^ 

*  Guil.  ^ewbrig.  lib.  ii.  c.  13.     Brompton  Col.  1050. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE   COJS^QUEST   IN   ITS    EELATIOI?^   TO    SOCIAL   LIFE. 


BOOK  m. 
Chap.  6. 


^^HE  immediate  effect  of  the  Conquest  must  have  been 
iniurious      -■-    fi^reatlv  iniurious  to  industry.     For  a  while,  the  rei^n 

effect  of  the       ^.    ^^^   __     '^        -^  .  ,,         *^  _  '  .    ^^ 

Conquest     01  the  JN  ormau  was  a  reimi  oi  terror.    I'roperty  was  retained 

on  industry.  ,  ip  j-*^  .it 

on  sufferance.  It  is  not  usual  for  one  man  to  sow  with  dili- 
gence when  another  mav  reap.  l!^or  do  we  expect  the 
traffic  of  towns  to  prosper  while  the  spoliator  is  at  hand, 
and  in  a  mood  to  appropriate  the  gains  of  an  industry  not 
his  own.  Much  of  the  land  of  England  j)assed  into  the 
hands  of  middle-men,  Avho  farmed  it  from  the  great  land- 
holders, and  whose  exactions  were  merciless.  Whole  coun- 
ties in  consequence  ran  almost  to  waste,  and  many  of  the 
b^st  towns  in  England  were  more  than  half  destroyed. 
Gradual  But  it  bccamc  the  conquerors,  for  their  own  sake,  to 

order.  put  somc  limit  to  these  devastations,  and  to  do  something 
towards  giving  the  security  of  law  to  person  and  property. 
By  degrees  the  lands  of  England  are  again  brought  under 
cultivation,  and  the  country  which,  as  found  by  the  Con- 
queror, was  described  by  his  followers  as  a  '  storehouse  of 
Ceres,'  *  is  found  again  producing  so  much  corn  as  to  dis- 
pose its  owners  to  pay  a  tax  to  the  king,  for  permission  to 
export  it.f  But  the  tax  received  for  the  export  of  corn  was 
small  compared  with  that  levied  on  the  exports  of  tin  and 
lead.  The  lead  with  which  all  large  buildings  in  the  neigh- 
bouring continent  were  covered,  was  obtained  chiefly  from 
Eno^land.    The  mines  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  soon  came  to 


& 


*  Guil.  Pictav.  110. 
f  Madox,  Hist.  Ex.  c.  xiii.  323,  xviii  530. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         367 

be  an  important  source  of  revenue.*    Slaves  and  horses  were  book  iil 

alike  articles  of  merchandise  in  England  at  this  time.     The     

slaves,  or  serfs  attached  to  the  soil,  might  be  sold  as  chattels 
in  the  market-place  at  the  pleasure  of  their  owner ;  and 
parents  unable  or  unwilling  to  support  their  children,  might 
dispose  of  them  in  the  same  manner.  Strange  enough,  it 
was  to  the  Irish  chiefly  that  the  English  slave-dealer  of  the 
twelfth  century  sold  his  human  commodities.  In  1102,  a 
law  was  passed  which  prohibited  '  this  wicked  trade  of  sel- 
ling men  in  markets  like  brute  beasts.'  But  the  traftic,  if 
somewhat  checked,  was  still  carried  on.f  Much  more  legit- 
imate was  the  trade  of  our  good  ancestors  in  wool,  woollen 
yarn,  and  leather.  Considerable  sums  were  paid  annually  * 
to  the  crown  for  licence  to  export  these  articles.  The 
troubled  state  of  England  during  the  thirteenth  century  was 
unfavourable  to  this  department  of  production.  Much  of 
the  wool  of  England  was  sent  in  those  days  into  Flanders, 
to  be  there  woven  into  cloth.:]: 

The  imports  to  be  placed  over  against  these  exports,  imports. 
were  French  wines,§  spices  and  drugs  from  the  East,  linen, 
silks,  tapestries,  and  furs  ;  besides  metals — gold,  silver,  iron, 
and  steel.  Corn  also  was  largely  imported  in  times  of 
scarcity,  and  lodged  in  warehouses  on  the  Thames.  ||  Tlie 
wine  merchants  sold  their  merchandise  in  their  ships,  or  in 

*  Madox.  JlisL  Excheq.  xviii.  530,531.     Rymer,  Fadera,  i.  243. 

f  Eadmer.  iii.  68.  Girald.  Cambrens  Hihernia  Expugnat.  i.  c.  18.  Rymer, 
i.  90.  Liber  Niger  Scaccarii,  art.  Danegeldo.  When  Henry  II.  invaded  Ire- 
land all  the  English  slaves  were  manumitted,  the  clergy  having  declared  that 
the  calamities  which  had  come  upon  them  were  the  punishment  of  the  sin  of 
having  purchased  them. — Wilkins,  Concil.  i.  470. 

\  Anderson's  History  of  Commerce,  a.d.  1172.  There  is  evidence  that 
broadcloths  were  made  in  England  in  the  time  of  Richard  I. — Ibid.  a.d.  1197. 
Madox,  Hist.  Excheq.  c,  xviii. 

§  England  produced  its  own  wine  from  the  grape  at  this  time. — Madox,  c. 
X.     Anderson,  a.d.  1140,  1154. 

II  Madox,  c.  xviii.  Considerable  effort  was  made  in  the  reign  of  Richard  I. 
to  establish  a  strict  uniformity  of  weights  and  measures  throughout  the  king- 
dom. The  penalty  for  offence  in  this  matter  was  that  the  offender  should  be 
imprisoned,  '  his  chattels  seised  to  the  king's  use,'  and  that  he  should  not  be 
set  at  hberty  'except  by  our  lord  the  king,  or  his  chief  justice.'  One  other 
provision  in  this  statute,  shows  further,  the  doubtful  moraUty  sometimes  to  be 
found  among  the  buyers  and  sellers  of  this  period.  'It  is  furthermore  forbid- 
den to  any  trader  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  to  hang  up  before  his  shop 
red  or  black  cloths,  or  penthouses,  or  anything  else,  by  means  of  which  the 
sight  of  the  purchaser  is  often  deceived  in  choosing  a  good  cloth.' — Hoveden, 
A.D.  1197. 


368  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^ch5  e"'  c^^^^^'s  ^6^1'  tl^6  river ;  *  and  Hoveden,  a  contemporary, 
assures  ns  that,  by  the  licence  given  to  this  article  of  impor- 
tation, '  the  land  was  filled  with  drink  and  drunkards.' f 
The  rich  silks  worn  by  ladies  of  rank,  and  the  tapestries 
and  other  ornaments  with  which  the  apartments  of  the 
wealthy  were  decorated,  were  mostly  of  foreign  manufac- 
ture.:j: 

The  marts  The  great  marts  of  the  twelfth  century  were  of  course  in 

cinque  the  great  towns  and  cities.  The  Cinque  Ports — Hastings, 
Dover,  Hythe,  Eomney,  and  Sandwich — were  vested  with 
special  privileges,  on  condition  of  their  supplying  the  king, 
when  required,  with  a  stipulated  force  in  shipping  and  sea- 
men. Several  other  seaports  were  admitted  to  the  same 
privileges  on  the  same  conditions.  But  the  '  five  ports ' 
continued  to  be  recognised  as  the  '  five  ports,'  the  other 
places  being  reckoned  as  auxiliaries  to  them.  The  great 
ports  of  this  period,  however,  were  London  and  Bristol. 
But  Rochester,  "Warwick,  Yarmouth,  Lynn,  Lincoln,  Grims- 
by, Waynfleet,  Boston,  and  Stamford,  were  all  places  of 
much  commercial  importance.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
York,  until  the  massacre  of  the  Jews  there  in  the  time  of 
Richard  L,  an  event  which  brought  a  desolation  upon  that 
city  from  which  it  never  more  than  partially  recovered.§ 

The  Jews.  The  Couquest  filled  the  land  with  foreign  soldiers,  and 

was  an  inlet  to  foreigners  of  all  descriptions,  especially  to 
the  foreign  merchant.  The  Jews  were  among  the  first  to 
seize  on  the  new  opening  for  trafiic.  Tliey  were  soon  to  be 
found  in  all  places  of  trade.T  In  the  Jew,  the  intelligence 
which  has  distinguished  the  Caucassian  race  was  shut  up  to 
one  thing — to  trade,  and,  especially  to  money-lending,  and 
no  marvel  if  their  skill  in  such  matters  was  such  as  to  dis- 
tance all  competition.  Such  was  the  fact.  Tliey  were 
spread  like  a  network  over  Europe,  in  constant  communi- 
cation with  each  other,  and  always  in  command  of  capital. 
No  men  knew  so  well  how  to  buy  in  the  cheapest  market, 
and  how  to  sell  in  the  dearest.     But  their  gains  were  not 

*  Fitz-Stephen,  5,  6.  f  Annals^  453. 

±  Anderson's  Hist.  Com.  a.d.  1130,  11*70. 

§  Camden,  Brit.  i.  254. 

"I  Anderson's  Hist.  Com.  a.d.  1100. 


THE  CONQUEST  IN   ITS  EELATION  TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         369 

without  drawbacks.    On  commercial  erounds,  as  well  as  on  book  iil 

T     •  -.1  .  1  -r        1         ,  Chap.  6. 

religious  grounds,  tney  were  most  unpopular.     In  the  char-     

ters  of  some  towns — as  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne  and  Derby 
— it  was  stipulated  that  no  Jews  should  be  allowed  to  settle 
or  trade  in  them.  Hated  by  the  people,  they  were  wholly 
at  the  mercy  of  the  crown.  Tlie  law  which  extended  pro- 
tection to  other  foreigners,  did  not  extend  it  to  them.  The 
king  could  exact  from  them  at  pleasure,  could  seize  their 
persons  as  well  as  their  property,  and  deal  with  them  as 
with  slaves.  Often  were  they  compelled  by  torture  to 
reveal  and  surrender  their  treasures.  Even  despotism, 
however,  has  its  limits.  It  is  checked  by  sheer  selfishness 
in  its  tendency  to  cut  the  down  tree  that  it  may  get  at  the 
fruit.*  But  the  Jews  of  England,  like  their  fathers  in 
Egypt,  seemed  to  multiply  and  prosper  the  more  they  were 
oppressed.  Privileges  were  frequently  granted  them,  but 
large  sums  were  paid  in  purchase  of  those  privileges,  and 
as  the  price  from  time  to  time  of  their  continuance.  In 
1290,  the  Jews  were  banished  from  England,  and  much  of 
their  property  j)assed  to  the  crown.  It  should  not  be  con- 
cealed that  one  cause  of  the  great  unpopularity  of  the  Jews 
was  the  Shylock  severity  with  which  tliey  treated  their 
debtors. f 

In  London,  merchants  were  resident,  from  nearly  all  ^^^^^^^^ 
nations,  before  the  close  of  this  period,  among  whom  the 
Germans  and  Italians  were  conspicuous.  J^early  all  the 
products  of  the  East  which  reached  this  distant  island  of 
the  West,  were  imported  by  Italians.  One  company,  or 
guild,  of  Italian  merchants,  bore  the  name  of  the  Caursini. 
Some  of  these  Caursini  brought  great  odium  on  their  guild, 
by  acting  as  collectors  of  revenue  for  the  court  of  Eome.ij: 
The  Germans  were  great  importers  of  steel,  and  had  a  yard 

*  Montesquieu. 

f  The  seventh  chapter  in  Madox,  intitled  '  Of  the  Exchequer  of  the  Jews,' 
contains  much  curious  information  in  relation  to  this  people.  *  In  sum,  the 
king  seemed  to  be  absolute  lord  of  their  estates  and  effects,  and  of  the  persons 
of  them,  of  their  wives  and  children.' — Hist.  Excheq.  c.  vii.  p.  150.  See  also 
Anderson's  Hut.  Com.  a.d.  1100,  1160,  1189,  1190,  1199,  1208.  Matt.  Paris, 
A.D.  1210,  1239,  1254,  1255. 

X  Anderson's  Hi&t.  Com.  passim.  Matt.  Westmin.  an.  1233.  Matt.  Paris, 
an.  1235,  1251. 

Vol.  I.— 24 


370  NORMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

BOOK  III.  or  quay  near  the  river  for  the  deposit  of  their  merchandise. 

They  were  known,  in  consequence,  as  the  company  of  the 

Steel-yard.*  Other  nations  had  their  respective  quarters 
near  the  Thames,  where  their  different  commodities  were 
lodged.  The  internal  trade  of  the  country  was  conducted 
mostly  by  natives,  either  Saxons  or  ]N'ormans.  Tlie  foreign 
commerce  was  left  mainly  in  the  hands  of  foreigners.f  . 
Regulations  The  Anglo-!N"orman  kings  issued  many  laws  for  the  pro- 
trade,  tection  and  encouragement  of  trade.  Ship-building  and 
seamanship  were  objects  of  special  patronage.  The  custom 
of  '  wrecking '  appears  to  have  been  general  and  inveterate. 
Tlie  first  two  Henries  sent  forth  stringent  regulations  on 
this  subject,  enforced  by  heavy  penalties.  Care  also  was 
taken  to  revise  and  regulate  the  coinage.  Privileges  were 
granted  to  many  guilds  and  companies,  which,  though  par- 
taking too  much,  according  to  modern  ideas,  of  the  nature 
of  monopolies,  and  being  too  much  a  matter  of  sale  by  the 
crown  for  its  own  immediate  advantage,  were  nevertheless 
favourable  to  enterprise  in  those  times,  by  furnishing  the 
necessary  security  to  the  outlay  of  capital. :j; 

Such  are  some  of  the  facts  which  lie  on  the  surface  of 
history  touching  the  industrial  life  of  the  English  under  our 
early  l^orman  kings.  But  we  naturally  wish  to  know 
something  more  of  the  past  than  lies  upon  the  surface.  We 
would  fain  be  present  in  the  homestead  of  the  husbandman, 
in  the  workship  of  the  artisan,  by  the  fireside  of  the  bur- 
-  gess,  amidst  the  trafiic  of  the  market-place,  and,  above  all, 
where  there  are  gatherings  of  the  townsmen  for  public  pur- 
poses, if  there  were  such  gatherings.  Unfortunately  our 
/  authorities  suggest,  rather  than  supply,  pictures  of  this  de- 
scription. 

One  scene  of  this  nature,  revealing  the  passions  which 
influenced  the  Norman  and  Saxon,  or  at  least  the  ruling 
and  the  ruled  populations  of  London,  in  the  time  of  Richard 

*  Anderson,  a.d.  1200. 

\  The  charter  granted  to  Bristol  in  1168,  contains  some  harsh  provisions 
against  the  foreign  trader,  and  shows  that  the  English  merchants  were  begin- 
ning to  think  themselves  strong  enough  to  conduct  foreign  traffic  for  them- 
selves.—Anderson,  A.D.  1168. 

^  Madox,  c.  X.     Anderson,  a.d.  1180. 


THE   CONQUEST  m  ITS   RELATION   TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         371 

I.,  has  been  transmitted  to  us.     It  is  a  story  which  has  its  ^clJi?.  ?^ 
discrepancies,  but  its  substance  can  be  verified,  and  it  may 
assist  us  in  judging  of  the  manner  in  which  the  same  social 
tendencies  were  develoj)ing  themselves  in  otlier  cities. 

In  1196  Kichard  I.  was  at  war  with  the  king  of  France.  Fatoof 
To  meet  the  expenses  of  this  war,  an  extraordinary  tax  was  ritz-osbert. 
laid  on  the  citizens  of  London.  The  authorities  of  the  city  SIbcard. 
assembled  as  usual  to  deliberate  on  the  mode  of  rais- 
ing the  sum  required.  Those  authorities  were  mostly  for- 
eigners— -the  richer  merchants,  as  well  as  the  great  land- 
holders, being  nearly  all  JSTormans,  or  men  of  Anjouan 
descent.  It  was  for  some  time  a  privilege  of  this  class  that 
they  should  be  wholly  exempt  from  the  tallages  laid  on  the 
cities  or  towns  in  which  tliey  resided.  But  after  a  while  the 
crown  ceased  to  recognise  this  distinction.  The  king  re- 
quired, tlie  town  or  city  to  raise  a  certain  sum,  leaving  the 
manner  of  raising  it  to  be  determined  by  the  municipal 
functionaries.  But  such  was  the  course  taken  by  these 
functionaries,  that  the  public  burdens  continued  to  fall 
heavily  on  the  poor,  and  only  lightly  on  the  rich.^ 

In  London,  however,  there  were  some  Englishmen  who 
had  become  wealthy  and  influential.  Several  of  these 
had  their  place  in  the  corj)oration.  One  of  their  number 
named  William  Fitz-Osbert,  had  become  very  popular  as 
the  defender  of  the  riglits  of  the  poor  against  the  favourit- 
isms of  the  rich.  After  the  battle  of  Hastings,  many  of  the 
more  sturdy  Saxons  resolved  never  to  shave  their  beard 
again.  William  was  one  of  those  who  retained  that  badge 
of  nationality.  Hence  the  name,  by  which  he  is  best  known, 
is  that  of  William  the  Longbeard.  He  availed  himself  of 
all  legal  means,  iof  the  protection  of  the  weak,  against  the 
unjust  impositions  of  the  strong.  He  studied  both  Norman 
and  English  law  carefully  for  this  purpose.  His  money, 
and  his  eloquence — with  which  he  is  said  to  have  been 
largely  gifted— were  freely  devoted  to  this  object. 

The  mayor  and  aldermen  of  London  had  sometimes 
decided  that  the  tax  to  be  raised  should  be  levied  on  the 
person,    and    not    on    property,  the    rich    and    the    poor 


372 


NORMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


^ch5  6^*  P^y^^^  *^®  same  sum.     Longbeard  had  often  protested 

against  proceedings  of  this  nature.     The  humbler  and  the 

middle  class  of  citizens  applauded  him  for  so  doing,  as  the 
friend  of  the  poor,  and  the  upholder  of  right.  The  ruling 
party — the  '  aldermen  '  or  '  majores,'  as  they  were  called, 
on  the  other  hand,  denounced  him  as  a  demagogue,  as  fill- 
ing men's  heads  with  mischievous  notions  about  equality 
and  liberty. 
Long-  In  1190,  the  proposal  in  the  municipal  council  was,  as 

position^^  heretofore,  that  the  sum  required  by  the  king  should  be 
niflgnates.  raised  in  a  manner  which  placed  the  great  burden  of  it  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  poor.  Longbeard,  though  he  stood 
nearly  alone,  resisted  this  proposal.  Tlie  majority  denounced 
him  as  a  traitor.  '  IsTot  so,'  was  his  reply,  '  you  rather  are 
the  traitors,  who  defraud  the  exchequer  of  the  king  of  what 
you  owe  him,  and  I  will  myself  see  that  the  king  shall  not 
be  in  ignorance  of  your  doings.'  *  Longbeard  had  served 
under  Richard  as  a  Crusader.  He  now  crossed  the  sea,  and 
presented  himself  to  the  king  in  his  tent,  casting  himself  at 
his  feet,  and  imploring  him  to  give  protection  to  his  injured 
subjects.  Tlie  king  promised  that  the  matter  should  be 
attended  to,  but  soon  became  too  much  occupied  in  other 
ways  to  remember  his  pledge. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  enemies  of  Longbeard  in  England 
were  not  inactive.  Hubert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
justiciar  of  the  kingdom,  stood  amazed  and  indignant  at  the 
effrontery  of  the  man  who  had  dared  to  appeal  to  the  king 
against  men  of  the  !N"orman  race.  In  his  wrath,  he  went 
so  far  as  to  forbid  any  commoner  passing  beyond  the  walls 
of  the  capital  without  permission — the  offender  to  be 
accounted  a  traitor  to  the  king  and  kingdom.  Some  Lon- 
don traders  took  their  usual  journey  to  Stamford  fair  with- 
out this  permission,  and  were  thrown  into  prison.  Great 
was  the  ferment  with  which  London  was  filled  on  this  ac- 
count.    The  citizens  formed  themselves  into  associations, 

*  Mutt.  Paris,  127.  From  baronial  emblem,  the  hawk  on  fist,  assumed  by 
Fitz-Ailwyn,  an  alderman  of  London,  there  seems  to  be  ground  for  the  opinion 
that  the  aldermen  of  the  metropolis  once  ranked  with  barons. — Rolls  and 
JRecord-f,  Introd.  §  xxiii.  This  fact  helps  further  to  account  for  the  ill-feeling 
evidently  subsisting  betvreen  the  ruling  class  and  the  citizens. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         373 

numbering,  it  is  said,  some  50,000  persons,  to  uphold  tlie  ^^^^  ^^^ 

policy  of  Longbeard.     Weapons  of  every  available  kind     

were  said  to  have  been  collected,  wherewith'  to  resist  the 
arms,  or  to  demolish  the  fortified  houses,  of  their  enemies, 
should  they  be  assailed.  Crowds  assembled  in  public 
places,  in  markets,  and  in  the  open  air,  to  set  forth  their 
grievances.  On  these  occasions,  Longbeard  was  the  great 
orator.  His  speeches  appear  to  have  been  at  times  inten- 
tionally obscure,  but  his  auditory  would  attach  clearer  and 
more  practical  ideas  to  his  expressions  than  the  terms  used 
by  him  seem  adapted  to  convey. 

So  serious  was  this  posture  of  affairs,  that  it  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  parliament  which  assembled  at  this 
juncture  in  London.  Longbeard  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  it,  which  he  did,  followed  by  thousands  of  people, 
who  cheered  him  loudly  on  his  way.  The  popular  feeling 
manifested  was  deemed  so  formidable,  that  the  considera- 
tion of  the  case  was  adjourned,  and  the  justiciar  and  the 
'  majores '  sought  to  accomplish  their  object  by  intrigue. 
The  primate  of  all  England,  and  other  men  of  high  rank, 
condescended  to  harangue  the  lower  classes  of  citizens  in' 
diiferent  meetings,  reminding  them  of  their  danger,  and 
endeavouring  to  soften  them  by  fair  words.  Deceived  by  the 
representations  made  to  them,  the  citizens  were  induced  to 
give  hostages  for  the  public  peace.  This  done,  the  magnates 
became  ascendg^nt. 

The  hostages  were  sent  to  different  fortresses  at  some  Fate  of 
distance  from  the  city.  Measures  were  then  taken  to  seize 
Longbeard.  His  steps  were  watched  many  days,  that  he 
might  be  apprehended  if  possible  when  alone — so  probable 
was  it  that  resistance  would  otherwise  be  made  in  his 
favour.  Two  citizens,  with  the  requisite  force  at  their  dis- 
posal, undertook  this  service.  At  length,  they  found  Long- 
beard abroad,  with  not  more  than  nine  of  his  friends  with 
him.  They  accosted  the  party  in  an  easy  and  familiar  man- 
ner, when  Geoffrey,  one  of  the  two,  and  an  old  enemy  of 
Longbeard,  attempted  to  seize  him,  while  the  other  shouted 
to  the  armed  men,  who  were  within  call,  to  advance.  Long- 
beard drew  the  poniard  then  usually  worn  in  the  girdle, 


374  NOEMAl^^S   AND   ENGLISH. 

^c?5  ^"'  ^^^  ^^*^  ^^^^  blow  laid  Geoffrey  dead.    The  struggle  which 

ensued  between  the  friends  of  Longbeard  and  their  mailed 

assailants  was  unequal;  but,  by  some  means,  Longbeard 
and  his  friends  gained  possession  of  a  church,  and  closed  it 
against  their  pursuers.  The  citizens,  taken  by  surprise,  dis- 
mayed and  trembling  for  the  safety  of  their  hostages,  did  not 
fly  promptly  to  the  rescue.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  justiciar 
and  his  adherents  assembled  in  great  numbers.  Hubert 
was  one  of  those  N^orman  prelates  who  were  not  only  pre- 
pared to  add  the  responsibilities  of  the  highest  civil  author- 
ities to  those  of  the  -  episcopate,  but  to  assume  the  sword 
and  helmet  in  the  open  fleld.  Longbeard  and  his  friends, 
des]3airing  of  safety  in  the  church,  had  taken  possession  of 
the  tower,  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  dislodge  them. 
The  archbishop,  aware  that  time  was  precious,  issued  orders 
that  the  whole  building  should  be  set  on  fire.  His  com- 
mand was  obeyed,  and  Longbeard  and  his  associates,  in 
attempting  to  make  their  way  from  amidst  the  flames  and 
smoke,  were  all  taken. 

As  they  passed,  bound,  along  the  street,  Longbeard 
received  a  stab  from  the  weapon  of  a  "son  of  that  Geoffrey 
who  had  fallen  a  little  before  by  his  hand.  In  this  state, 
the  captured  leader  was  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  horse,  and 
dragged  through  the  streets  to  the  gate  of  the  Tower.  Sen- 
tence was  there  pronounced  upon  him,  as  he  lay,  by  the 
archbishop,  as  justiciar,  and  the  wounded  man  was  then 
dragged,  in  the  same  manner,  to  the  place  of  execution  at 
Tyburn.  '  So,'  says  Matthew  Paris,  '  perished  William 
Longbeard,  for  endeavouring  to  uphold  the  cause  of  right 
and  of  the  poor.  If  it  be  the  cause  that  makes  the  martyr, 
no  man  may  be  more  justly  described  as  a  martyr  than  he.'  * 
Popular  The  people,  though  they  had  failed  him  in  his  hour  of 

-vvardfhim.  uccd,  showcd  all  possible  signs  of  affection  for  his  memory. 
The  wood  on  which  he  suffered  was  borne  away  at  night, 
separated  into  iimumerable  fragments,  and  preserved  as 
hardly  less  sacred  than  the  wood  of  the  true  cross.     Even 

*  Wendoyer,  a.d.  1196.  Matt.  Paris,  12Y.  Guil.  Newbr.  630-633.  Ger- 
vas.  Cant.  1591.  Hoveden,  a.p.  1196.  Thierry,  bk.  xi.  270-285.  EoUs  and 
Records,  edited  by  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  Introduction,  viii.  et  seq. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   SOCIAL   LIFE.         375 

the  earth  which  the  wood  had  touched  was  removed  as  book  hi. 

Chap.  6. 

having  become  sacred,  until  a  hollow  was  formed  in  the     

place ;  and  the  crowds  which  assembled  there  to  meditate 
or  pray  were  such,  that  archbishop  Hubert  issued  orders  that 
they  should  be  dispersed  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  Only 
by  fixing  a  constant  guard  upon  the  sj^ot  could  the  recur- 
rence of  such  scenes  be  prevented.  Even  miracles  were 
said  to  have  been  wrought  on  the  spot  which  the  blood  of 
the  friend  of  the  weak  and  oppressed  had  made  holy. 

The  wrongs  of  the  Londoners  were  wrongs  endured 
more  or  less  elsewhere,  and  the  feeling  of  the  Londoners  in 
this  instance  was  the  feeling  of  the  bulk  of  Ihe  people  in 
other  towns  and  cities.  During  many  coming  years,  no  Saxon 
patriot  made  a  journey  to  the  capital  without  doing  pilgrim- 
age to  the  spot  where  Longbeard  had  died  his  patriot  death. 
E"ames  may  change,  but  principles  and  passions  continue 
the  same.  "We  find  the  germ  of  the  true  commonalty,  and 
of  the  true  liberties  of  England,  in  such  instances  of  resist- 
ance, misguided,  faulty,  and  ill-fated,  in  many  respects,  as 
they  may  have  often  been.  In  English  history,  the  civic 
spirit  was  to  become  stronger  than  the  feudal ;  but  to  give 
that  turn  to  the  balance  between  these  two  powers,  has 
required  a  large  expenditure  of  thought,  and  effort,  alid  self- 
sacrifice,  extending  through  seven  centuries.* 

It  was  thus  that  the  industrial  and  city  life  of  our  ances- 
tors proved  favourable  to  their  political  power,  and  not  less 
to  their  general  intellectual  culture — a  phase  of  the  revolu- 
tion of  this  period  that  must  not  be  overlooked. 

The  half  century  which  preceded  the  I^orman  Conquest 
was  a  space  of  comparative  tranquillity  in  English  history. 

*  Longbeard's  friends  were  men  whose  names  bespoke  their  Saxon  oi-igin, 
and  his  history  is  an  ilhistration  of  the  antagonism  existing,  not  so  much  be- 
tween rich  and  poor,  as  between  Saxon  and  Norman.  Sir  Francis  .Palgrave 
remarks,  that  amidst  the  dry  technicaUties  of  our  court  records,  it  is  easy  to 
discover  particulars  which  show  the  condition  of  society.  '  A  female,  the  wife 
of  William  le  Parmenter,  of  Westminster,  is  designated  in  the  pleadings  as 
Sna-wit,  or  Snow-white,  and  also  as  Swan-hilda.  Both  these  names  are  evi- 
dently epithets  derived  from  the  beauty  of  her  complexion,  and  equivalent  to 
each  other.  And  they  also  show  how  purely  the  common  people  were  still 
Anglo-Saxon  in  language  and  mode  of  thought;  for  the  expressions  thus  em- 
ployed have  all  the  spirit  and  the  form  of  the  poetry  of  their  remote  northern 
ancestors.  But  with  respect  to  the  upper  classeSj  and  those  immediately  con- 
nected with  them,  we  may  equally  discern  the  influence  of  the  foreign  tongue 
in  other  names  not  less  significant.' — Eolls  and  Records^  Introduction,  xxxv. 


376  NORMANS  AND   ENGLISH. 

^cSS.T*  -^*  ^^  *^^^®5  *^®  ascendency  of  a  Danish  dynasty  was  the  as- 

intdi^ai  tendency  of  a  race  inferior  to  the  Saxons  themselves  in  cul- 

En^iand      tivation.      The .  security,   however,  which   prevailed,   was 

period/^'"   favourable  to  a  partial  restoration  of  educational  institutions 

in  the  cathedrals  and  monasteries ;  and  the  first  dawn  of 

light  which  was  to  follow  may,  perhaps,  be  traced  to  that 

remote  period.* 

ffSr^S         ^^^  l^orman  kings   were  most   of   them  disposed  to 

maSf  ^'"'  patronize  learning.     The  Conqueror  himself,  when  the  crisis 

of  the  new  settlement  was  over,  showed  some  liberality  in 

this  direction.     His  son  Henry  was  known,  from  his  decided 

literary  tast^,  by  the  name  of  Beauclerc  —  the  scholar. 

Henry  H.  was  a  man  of  scarcely  less  culture,  and  placed  his 

sons  under  the  best  preceptors  the  age  could  furnish.     These 

reigns  embrace  the  whole  space  from  1066  to  1216,  with 

the  exception  of  the  twenty-two  years  divided  between  Rii- 

fus  and  Stephen. 

The  Conqueror  founded  two  famous  abbeys — Battle  and 
Selby,  and  many  smaller  convents,  which,  in  those  days, 
would  all  be  places  of  education.  His  son  Henry  was  educat- 
ed in  the  abbey  of  Abingdon,  under  the  care  of  the  abbot 
Grymbold,  and  of  Faricius,  a  physician,  who  taught  at  Ox- 
ford, f  The  clergy  introduced  by  the  Conqueror  owed  every- 
thing to  his  favour,  aiid  were  expected  to  be  subservient  to 
his  will.  But  some  of  them  were  men  of  learning,  and  did 
much  to  diifuse  a  taste  for  literature  in  their  new  connec- 
tions. Herman,  who  became  bishop  of  Salisbury,  founded 
an  excellent  library  in  his  cathedral.  Godfrey,  prior  of  St. 
Swithin's  in  Winchester,  was  an  elegant  Latin  poet.  Her- 
bert de  Losinga,  a  monk  of  ITormandy,  who  became  bishop 
of  Thetford  in  JN^orfolk,  instituted  an  abbey  in  ]N^orwich  for 
Benedictine  monks,  and  largely  endowed  it.:j:  A  learned 
foreigner,  named  Geoffrey,  who  had  studied  in  Paris,  opened 

*  Just  before  this  interval  Oswald,  archbishop  of  York,  found  the  monas- 
teries of  his  province  so  extremely  ignorant,  not  only  in  the  common  elements 
of  grammar,  but  even  as  to  the  rules  of  their  orders,  that  he  sent  to  France  for 
teachers  to  instruct  them.  With  this  deterioration  of  such  establishments,  of 
course,  there  had  come  a  general  deterioration  of  mind  and  manners. — War- 
ton's  Introduction  of  Learning  into  England^  cxl.  But  from  about  the  close 
of  the  tenth  century,  not  only  England,  but  Europe,  began  to  give  signs  of  the 
approach  of  better  days. 

f  Wood's  Hist.  46.  %  Warton's  Introd.  cxliii. 


TIIE   CONQUEST  IN  ITS   RELATION   TO   SOCIAL   LIFE.         377 

a  school  at  Dunstable,  which  became  famous.     In  short,  ^gj^"^ 

the  nobles  and  prelates  so  far  vied  with  their  kings  in  the     

encouragement  of  the  religious  and  literary  tendencies  of  the 
times,  that,  as  before  stated,  between  five  and  six  hundred 
monasteries,  all  designed  to  be  more  or  less  places  of  in- 
struction, made  their  appearance  in  England  in  the  time 
between  the  Conquest  and  the  reign  of  king  John.* 

JSTor  were  all  the  schools  of  this  period  clerical  schools.  Lay  schools. 
In  London,  St.  Albans,  and  other  places,  laymen  began  to 
make  their  appearance  as  educators.f  Some  of  these  pri- 
vate schools  were  what  we  should  describe  as  grammar- 
schools.  In  others  the  higher  departments  of  science  were 
studied.  Fitz-Stephen,  who  wrote  in  the  time  of  Henry  11., 
gives  us  the  following  account  of  the  '  holiday '  doings  of 
certain  schools  for  youth  in  London  in  his  time.  '  It  is 
usual,'  he  says,  '  for  these  schools  to  hold  public  assemblies 
in  the  churches,  in  which  the  scholars  engage  in  demonstra- 
tive or  logical  disputations,  some  using  enthymems  and 
others  perfect  syllogisms,  some  aiming  at  nothing  but  to 
gain  the  victory,  and  make  an  ostentatious  display  of  their 
acuteness,  while  others  have  the  investigation  of  truth  in 
view.  Artful  sophists  on  these  occasions  acquire  great  ap- 
plause— some  by  a  prodigious  inundation  and  flow  of  words, 
others  by  their  specious  but  fallacious  arguments.  After 
the  disputations,  other  scholars  deliver  rhetorical  declama- 
tions, in  which  they  observe  all  the  rules  of  art,  and  neg- 
lect no  topic  of  persuasion.  Some  of  the  younger  boys  in 
the  different  schools  contend  against  each  other  in  verse, 
about  the  principles  of  grammar,  and  the  preterites  and 
supines  of  verbs.':}: 

It  is  during  this  period  that  Oxford  and  Cambridge  The  univer- 
acquire  an  acknowledged  place  in  history  as  seats  of  learn- 
ing.    In  the  time  of  Eichard  I.  the  University  of  Oxford  is 

*  Tanner,  Notitia  Monastica^  Pref. 

f  Matt.  Paris,  F^«.  ^Ma^.  56-62.  Brompton,_ CAron.  1348.  Hoveden,  589. 
Dupin,  Eccles.  Hist.  cent,  xiii.  Tanner  Not  Moriast.  Pref.  The  most  eminent 
scholars  England  produced,  before  and  even  below  the  twelfth  century,  were 
educated  in  our  religious  houses.  The  encouragement  given  in  the  English 
monasteries  to  the  transcribing  of  books  was  very  considerable. — Warton's 
Introd.  cxliv.     Of  this  Warton  has  given  a  series  of  proofs. 

\  W.  Stephan.  Civit.  Lond.  4.     Henry's  Hist.  Eng.  vi.  book  iii.  c.  4. 


378  NORMAKS   AND  ENGLISH. 

BOOK  III.  spoken  of  as  men  spoke  of  the  University  of  Paris.     Many 

English  students  studied  in  both  seminaries.     Among  the 

eminent  Englishmen  who  studied  in  Paris  were  Tliomas  a 
Becket ;  Pobert  "White,  a  scholar  whose  name  bespeaks  his 
Saxon  origin,  and  who  lectured  with  much  applause  in 
Oxford  ;  Nicholas  Breakspear,  who  became  pope  under  the 
title  of  Adrian  the  Eourth ;  Eobert  of  Melun,  so  called  from 
his  teaching  in  that  city,  who  became  bishop  of  Hereford ; 
and,  above  all  these,  the  renowned  John  of  Salisbury.^ 

The  school  in  Oxford  was  of  some  celebrity  before  the 
Conquest,  possibly  from  the  time  of  Alfred.  In  1109,  about 
forty  years  after  the  Conquest,  we  find  in  that' city  a  street 
named  School-Street,  and  another  named  Shydiard-streei^ 
— ^facts  which  suggest  that  Oxford  must  have  been  conspic- 
uous as  a  place  of  education  long  before.  Tlie  royal  resi- 
dence at  "Woodstock  was  favourable  to  its  progress  in  this 
view,  especially  in  the  time  of  Henry  I.  It  was  in  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century  that  Yicarius  lectured  on  Civil 
Law  in  Oxford.  Medicine  was  soon  afterwards  added  to 
its  course  of  studies.  The  fact  that  three  thousand  students 
migrated  from  Oxford  in  1209,  and  the  fact  that  quite  that 
number  is  known  to  have  been  resident  there  not  many 
years  later,  will  suffice  to  indicate  the  eminence  to  wdiich 
the  University  had  then  risen.  In  1229  a  considerable 
migration  took  place,  both  of  students  and  teachers,  from  the 
University  of  Paris  to  the  University  of  Oxford. :|: 

During  the  greater  part  of  this  period,  the  schools  at 
Canterbury,  St.  Albans,  Lincoln,  "Westminster,  "\Vinchester, 
and  Peterborough  were  all  flourishing.  But  Oxford  sur- 
passed them,  and  was  especially  distinguished  from  them, 
as  being  independent  in  its  origin — that  is,  it  w^as  not  a 
growth  from  the  cathedral  or  conventual  schools.  In  the 
schools  last  named,  and  from  which  nearly  all  the  univer- 

*  John  of  Salisbury  spent  some  nine  or  ten  years  in  Paris ;  and,  though 
much  enamoured  at  first  of  the  dialectics  taught  there,  he  lived  to  denounce 
them  with  much  bitterness,  as  leading  to  nothing  better  than  ingenious  trifling. 
— See  his  Metalogicus. 

f  Wood,  Hist.  Vicus  Schediasticorum.  Huber's  History  of  the  English 
Universities,  i.  47. 

jj.  Huber's  Hist.  i.  52,  note  10.  It  is  not  till  the  year  1200  that  the  school 
in  Paris  becomes  an  incorporation  and  a  university.  Crevier,  Hist,  de  V  Uni- 
ver.  de  Paris ^  i.  255. 


'    THE  CONQUEST  IN   ITS   KELATION   TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         379 

sities  north  of  the  Alps  had  their  origin,  the  teachers  were  ^^^^  ^^^ 

all  ecclesiastics,  living  as  such  on  their  stipends.     But  the     

lay  teachers,  who  began  to  make  their  appearance  at  this 
time,  were  dependent  for  support  on  the  fees  of  their  pupils, 
and  being  free  from  the  control  of  the  clergy,  they  extended 
the  range  of  their  teaching  considerably  beyond  that  of  the 
clerical  preceptors  by  whom  they  had  themselves  been 
educated.'^' 

Places  of  residence  known  by  the  name  of  Inns  and 
Halls,  existed  in  Oxford  from  the  time  of  the  Conqueror. 
These  consisted  mostly  of  hired  buildings  of  a  rude  descrip- 
tion. The  first  establishment  entitled  to  the  name  of  a  col- 
lege, as  a  foundation,  perpetuated  and  privileged  by  law, 
does  not  date  earlier  than  1264.  But  within  little 
more  than  a  century  from  that  time,  the  greater  part  of  the 
colleges  in  Oxford  now  known  to  us  were  founded.  The 
inns  and  halls  were  simply  voluntary  schools.  Colleges 
possessed  endowments,  a  common  residence,  and  a  common 
table,  at  least  to  some  extent,  and  the  power,  for  the  most 
part,  of  self  government.f 

In  Cambridge,  the  most  ancient  college  was  founded  in 
1256,  or,  as  some  say,  in  1274.  The  following  account  of 
the  early  days  of  Cam'bridge  is  given  by  Peter  of  Blois, 
about  a  century  after  the  times  to  wdiich  it  relates.  The 
mention  of  Averroes  in  this  description  is  an  error — that 
philosopher  flourished  during  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth 
century.  But  the  substance  of  the  description,  though 
somew4iat  suspicious  in  its  colouring,  may,  we  think,  be 
accepted  as  triistworthy. 

'  Joffrid,  abbot  of  Croyland,  sent  to  his  manor  of  Cotten- 
ham,  near  Cambridge,  Master  Gislebert,  his  fellow-monk 

*  Huber's  Hist.  i.  Introductory  chapter  and  notes.  '  Towards  the  close 
of  the  tenth  century  an  event  took  place  which  gave  a  new  and  a  very  fortu- 
nate turn  to  the  state  of  letters  in  France  and  Italy.  A  little  before  that  time 
there  were  no  schools  in  Europe  but  those  which  belonged  to  tlie  monasteries 
or  the  episcopal  churches.  But  at  the  commencement  of  the  eleventh  century, 
many  persons  of  the  laity,  as  well  as  of  the  clergy,  undertook  in  the  most  cap- 
ital cities  of  France  and  Italy  this  important  charge.' — Warton's  Introduct.  cxli. 
This  lay  teaching  came  in  with  the  Normans,  but  not  immediately ;  and  as  the 
universities  rose,  the  monasteries  fell,  as  places  of  education,  and  deteriorated 
considerably  in  all  respects. 

•{•  Huber's  Hist.  i. 


380  NOKMANS   AISTD  ENGLISH. 

^c£S.T*  ^^^  professor  of  theology,  with  three  other  monks,  who  had 
followed  him  into  England  ;  who  being  very  well  instructed 
in  philosophical  theorems  and  other  primitive  sciences,  went 
every  day  to  Cambridge,  and  having  hired  a  certain  public 
barn,  taught  the  sciences  openly,  and  in  a  little  time  col- 
lected a  great  concourse  of  scholars  ;  for  in  the  very  second 
year  after  their  arrival  the  number  of  their  scholars  from 
the  town  and  country  increased  so  much  that  there  was  no 
house,  barn,  nor  church  capable  of  containing  them.  For 
this  reason  they  separated  into  different  parts  of  the  town, 
and,  imitating  the  plan  of  the  Studium  of  Orleans  ;  brother 
Odo,  who  was  eminent  as  a  grammarian  and  satirical  poet, 
read  grammar  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Priscian  and  of 
his  commentator  Kemigius,  to  the  boys  and  younger  stu- 
dents that  were  assigned  to  him,  early  in  the  morning.  At 
one  o'clock  brother  Terricus,  a  most  acute  sophist,  read  the 
Logic  of  Aristotle,  according  to  the  Introduction  and  Com- 
inentaries  of  Porphyry  and  Averroes,  to  those  who  were 
further  advanced.  At  three,  brother  William  read  lectures 
on  Tully's  Rhetoric  and  Quintilian's  Institutes.  But 
Master  Gislebert,  being  ignorant  of  the  English,  but  very 
expert  in  the  Latin  and  French  languages,  preached  in  the 
several  churches  to  the  people  on  Sundays  and  holidays.'  * 
With  this  picture  of  Cambridge  in  its  early  days,  we 
may  connect  another  relating  to  Oxford  in  the  time  of  Rich- 
ard I.  Giraldus  Cambrensis  lived  at  that  time ;  and  such 
was  his  passion  for  study,  that  he  is  said  to  have  refused 
three  bishoprics,  to  have  spent  twenty  years  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris,  and  seven  years  in  seclusion  in  England,  that 
he  might  give  himself  effectually  to  such  pursuits.  His 
works  were  many,  and  on  many  subjects.  Among  them 
was  a  Topography  of  Ireland.  This  book  the  author  is 
said  to  have  recited  on  three  successive  days  at  Oxford, 
The  first  day  to  the  poor  of  the  city  ;  the  second  to  the  doc- 
tors and  scholars  of  good  standing ;  the  third  to  the  body  of 
the  students,  the  citizens,  and  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison.  It 
would  be  pleasant  to  call  up  to  the  imagination  the  scenes  of 
those  three  days — to  look  on  the  zealous  Giraldus,  enamoured 

*  Continuation  of  Ingulf.    Henry's  Eng.  bk.  iii.  c.  4. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         381 

of  his  theme,  as  he  endeavours  to  lead  the  professors  and  stu-  book  iil 

'  ^  ^  Chap.  6. 

dents,  citizens,  soldiers,  and  working  men,  upon  a  travel     

through  the  sister  island.  It  is  probable  that  these  recita- 
tions took  place  at  a  time  when  Giraldus  and  others  passed 
to  some  degree — the  season,  when,  in  Oxford,  as  in  other 
universities,  the  visitors  who  flocked  to  the  town  to  share 
in  its  ceremonials  and  sight-seeing,  its  hospitalities  and 
merriment,  were  such  as  often  to  exceed  all  the  ordinary- 
means  of  accommodation.  So  did  the  awakening  of  intellec- 
tual life  in  those  ages  bring  other  signs  of  life  along  with  it.* 

The  East,  as  the  passage  touching  the  early  days  of  influence  of 
Cambridge  indicates,  was  now  contributing  its  treasures  to  ture. 
the  West.  Tlie  Moslems  of  Spain  were  in  possession  of  all 
the  Greek  literature  and  science  that  had  survived  the  fall 
of  the  Roman  empire.  The  light  diffused  from  their  many- 
noble  libraries,  and  their  many  seats  of  learning,  had  placed 
them  far  in  advance  of  the  Christian  states  of  Europe.  But 
the  time  had  come  in  which  the  nations  of  the  West  were 
to  share  largely  in  those  treasures.  The  most  valuable 
Greek  authors  were  translated  into  Latin,  and  passed,  with 
profuse  Latin  commentaries,  over  the  whole  of  Christendom.f 
By  Moslem  and  by  Christian,  however,  it  was  not  so  much 
the  literature  as  the  science  of  the  ancient  world  that  was 
especially  prized.  Mathematics,  astronomy,  chemistry,  and 
medicine,  together  with  metaphysics,  logic,  and  rhetoric — 
these  were  the  favourite  studies.  The  study  of  the  Roman 
and  Canon  law  was  of  course  peculiar  to  the  Christian 
states. 

With  these  tendencies  came  the  ascendency  of  Aristotle,  Aristotle 

•^  and  the 

the  reign  of  the  scholastic  philosophy,  and  of  the  men  known  schoolmen, 
in  history  by  the  name  of  schoolmen.  Alcuin,  Erigena,  Lan- 
franc,  and  Anselm,  were  all,  in  fact,  schoolmen,  long  before 
scholasticism  became  known  by  that  name ;  and  by  their 
tastes,  the  taste  of  their  times  was  materially  influenced. 
The  early  fathers  professed  to  base  their  theology  on  the 
Scriptures.  Later  writers  made  these  fathers  themselves 
their  authority.    Tlie  schoolmen  endeavoured  to  sustain  the 

*  Wood,  Hist  Antiq.  Oxon,  25.     Warton's  Introduct  clriii. 
f  Warton's  Introduct.  cxli. 


382  ,  NOKMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 

^cSS.T*  ortlioQoxy  of  tlie  churcli,  and  intelligence  in  general,  by  the 
aid  of  the  rules  and  method  of  the  Aristotelian  dialectics. 
But  Peter  Lombard,  the  reputed  founder  of  the  scholastic 
philosophy,  does  not  publish  his  famous  Book  of  Sentences 
before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century ;  and  it  was  left  to 
the  '-  Master  of  the  Sentences,'  as  he  was  called,  to  impart 
to  the  wider  range  of  study  which  aimed  at  something  much 
higher  than  the  routine  of  tlie  conventual  schools,  the  system 
which  was  to  charcterize  it  for  centuries  to  come.  The  logic 
of  Aristotle  was  the  instrument  used  in  all  investigations. 
Everything  to  be  admitted  as  knowledge,  must  bear  to  be 
tested  by  that  method  of  proof.  Physics  and  metaphysics 
fell  alike  under  the  same  scrutiny,  and  theology  became  a 
science.* 

The  time  came  when  this  philosophy  proved  a  grand 
hindrance  to  knowledge,  conclusions  so  established  being 
deemed  irrefragable.  Such,  however,  they  were  not,  for  the 
reasoning  in  relation  to  them  often  rested  on  doubtful  pre- 
mises, and  was  in  consequence  itself  doubtful.  In  its 
attempts  to  explain  abstract  ideas,  and  to  give  distinctness 
to  them,  this  philosophy  Avas  favourable  to  many  subtle  and 
acute  forms  of  thought ;  but  it  gave  rise,  at  the  same  time,  to 
much  trifling,  and  taught  men  to  make  light  of  particular  and 
available  knowledge,  in  their  eager  pursuit  of  unwarranted 
generalizations  and  useless  refinements.  Of  course,  even  such 
a  movement  was  better  than  the  preceding  torpor  and  stagna- 
tion. It  was  the  sign  of  life,  and  contributed  to  other  ends 
than  those  contemplated  by  the  minds  with  which  it  origin- 
ated. I^ow,  accordingly,  began  those  subtle  disputations 
between  l^ominalists  and  Eealists  in  England,  which  were 
to  attract  the  attention  and  test  the  orthodoxy  of  kings  and 
councils  in  France.  Robert  of  Melun,  bishop  of  Hereford, 
had  distinguished  himself  as  an  opponent  of  the  Nominalists 
in  the  University  of  Paris. 
Angio-Nor-  N^ow,  also,  that  scrics  of  Latin  historians  and  annalists 
inanhisto-  ^^^k^  tlicir  appearancc,  the  bare  enumeraticm  of  whose 
works  is  enough  to  suggest  the  extent  of  literary  activity 

*  So  successful  was  this  study  in  Oxford,  that  '  before  the  reign  of  Edward 
II.  no  foreign  university  could  boast  so  conspicuous  a  catalogue  of  subtle  and 
invincible  doctors.' — Warton,  Introduct.  clxxv. 


nans. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         383 

tliat  must  have  been  awakened.*     Of  course,  this  great  in-  book  iil 

crease  of  writers  implies  a  proportionate  increase  of  readers.     

Classical  learning,  indeed,  was  not  much  cultivated,  and 
was  confined  generally  to  a  partial  acquaintance  with  Latin 
authors.  There  were  scholars  who  knew  a  little  of  Hebrew, 
and  of  Arabic,  chiefly  by  the  aid  of  Jewish  teachers,  but  it 
is  one  of  the  extraordinary  things  reported  of  Abelard,  that, 
to  his  other  learning,  he  added  some  knowledge  of  Greek. 
Mathematics,  too,  according  to  John  of  Salisbury  and  Peter 
of  Blois,  were  but  little  studied,  and  chiefly  from  their  sup- 
posed relation  to  astrology.  "We  are  inclined  to  think,  how- 
ever, that  the  architects  of  this  period  must  have  known 
much,  more  of  mathematics  than  w^as  suspected  by  these 
authorities.f 

In  1151  Gratian,  a  monk  of  Bologna,  published  his  study  of  the 
Decretum  of  the  Canon  La.w.  This  scientific  digest  super-  canon  law. 
seded  all  other  works  of  the  kind,  and  became  the  uni- 
versal text-book  among  teachers.  At  this  time  also,  the 
Pandects  of  Justinian  are  brought  from  their  obscurity, 
and  become  in  like  manner  the  great  class-book  in  the  study 
of  civil  law.  In  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  Roger, 
a  monk  of  ISTormandy,  lectured  with  much  applause  on  the 
canon  and  civil  law  in  Oxford ;  and  during  this  century 
Geirard,  an  Englishman,  lectured  with  still  greater  favour 

*  Such  as  William  of  Poitiers,  Ordericus  Yitalis,  William  of  Jumieges, 
Florence  of  Worcester,  Matthew  of  Westminster,  William  of  Malmesbury, 
Eadmer,  Turgot,  and  Simeon  of  Durham,  John  of  Hexham,  Richard  of  Hex- 
ham, Wallingford,  Ailred,  Alfred  of  Beverly,  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Roger  of 
Hoveden  (Howden),  William  of  Kewburgh,  Benedictus  Abbas,  Ralph  de  Diceto, 
Gervase  of  Canterbury,  Vinesauf,  Richard  of  Devizes,  and  Jocelin  de  Brake- 
londa.  Many  of  these  writers,  as  stated  elsewhere,  copy  from  their  predeces- 
sors so  largely  as  often  to  become  not  a  little  Avearisome  as  we  pass  from  one 
to  the  other.  But  most  of  them  describe  events  of  their  own  time,  and  they 
often  follow  authorities  now  lost.  The  reader  who  wishes  further  information 
concerning  these  historians  and  chroniclers  will  find  it  in  Nicholson's  Historical 
Library ;  Warton's  Introduction  of  Learning  into  England,  preliminary  to  his 
History  of  English  Poetry  ;  in  the  literary  Introduction  to  Lappenberg's  His- 
tory of  England;  in  Wright's  Biograpliia  Britannica  ;  and  in  the  republication 
of  these  various  works  which  have  taken  place  of  later  years,  both  in  Latin  and 
English. 

f  The  Latin  style  of  John  of  Sahsbury  is  highly  praised  even  by  modern 
critics.  '  His  Folicraticon,^  says  Warton,  '  is  an  extremely  pleasant  miscellany, 
replete  with  erudition,  and  a  judgment  of  men  and  things  which  properly  be- 
longs to  a  more  sensible  and  reflecting  period.  His  familiar  acquaintance  with 
the  classics  appears,  not  only  from  the  happy  facility  of  his  language,  but  from 
the  many  citations  from  the  purest  Roman  authors.' — Introduct. 


384 


NOEMANS   AND  ENGLISH. 


BOOK  III. 
Chap.  6. 


The  Latin 
languasre — 
Tnnltiplica- 
tion  of 
books. 


on  the  same  subjects  in  Paris.  The  pope  granted  Geirard 
a  dispensation,  which  empowerd  him  to  hold  his  professor- 
ship in  France,  together  with  the  see  of  Lichfield  in  Eng- 
land. The  admirers  of  the  common,  that  is,  of  native  law, 
both  in  this  country  and  on  the  Continent,  opposed  these 
studies  Avith  much  vehemence.  But  their  patriotism  was 
resisted  by  the  professional  zeal  of  the  clergy.  The  civil 
law  aided  the  canon  law,  and  the  canon  law  was  the  basis  of 
church  discipline  and  church  power.*  From  a  letter  of 
Peter  of  Blois,  we  may  see  the  ardour  with  which  these 
branches  of  knowledge  were  pursued  at  this  time.  'In 
the  house  of  my  master  (Theobald),  the  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, there  are  several  very  learned  men,  famous  for 
their  knowledge  of  law  and  politics,  who  spend  their  time 
between  prayers  and  dinner  in  lecturing,  disputing,  and 
debating  causes.  To  us,  all  the  knotty  questions  of  the 
kingdom  are  referred,  which  are  produced  in  the  common 
hall,  and  every  one  in  his  order,  having  first  prepared  him- 
self, declares,  with  all  the  eloquenc-e  and  acuteness  of  which 
he  is  capable,  but  without  wrangling,  what  is  wisest  and 
safest  to  be  done.  If  God  suggests  the  soundest  opinion 
to  the  youngest  among  us,  we  all  agree  to  it  without  envy 
or  detraction.'  f 

These  Pomanized  tastes  contributed  towards  making  the 
Latin  a  commonly  spoken  language.  Among  the  clergy, 
and  all  who  attended  the  different  schools,  whether  in  the 
universities,  the  cathedrals,  or  the  monasteries,  Latin  was  the 
common  medium  of  communication.  Professors  lectured  in 
it  with  the  greatest  ease  and  freedom,  and  youths  in  very 
humble  life  might  sometimes  be  heard  conversing  in  it. 
Books,  too,  were  multiplied  by  transcription,  with  a  facility 
exceeding  our  conception.  The  practice,  and  the  necessity 
of  the  art,  gave  men  a  great  mastery  in  it.     Then,  as  now. 


*  See  p.  315  of  this  volume.  That  two  of  the  most  distinguished  profes- 
sors in  this  country  before  the  age  of  the  Great  Charter — Geirard  and  White 
— should  have  been  Englishmen,  shows  the  vigour  with  which  the  Saxon  mind 
was  then  forcing  its  way  upward. 

•j-  Henry,  Hist.  Eng.  vi.  Warton  reckons  the  profession  of  the  civil  and 
canonical  laws  among  the  impediments  *  to  the  propagation  of  those  letters 
which  humanize  the  mind,  and  cultivate  the  manners.' — Introduct.  clxxv. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS    RELATION   TO   SOCIAL   LIFE.         385 

though  not  of  course  to  the  same  extent,  books  which  were  ^gj^  'g"- 
interesting  were  widely  circulated.  

Among  the  works  of  interest  so  circulated,  we  do  not  fl^^^^^^ 
of  course  reckon  the  huge  tomes  of  history  or  chronicle  to 
which  some  twenty  authors  of  this  ^ period  gave  existence. 
ISTor  can  we  suppose  that  the  Latin  poetry,  produced  by  an 
equal  number  of  writers,  was  more  than  partially  read, 
though  often  characterized  by  much  graceful  elaboration. 
It  is  the  romance  literature  of  this  age,  written  in  Latin  or 
in  Anglo-IS'orman,  in  prose  and  verse,  that  we  find  most 
frequently  under  the  hand  of  the  transcriber.    . 

Certain  rude  minstrels  called  'jongleurs,'  accompanied  ^qj![°°' 
the  ISTormans  into  England.  One  of  these,  named  Taillefer, 
a  chief  of  his  class,  struck  the  first  blow,  in  the  spirit  of  his 
own  war-song,  at  Hastings.  Rahere,  the  founder  of  Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital,  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  this 
order.  His  songs  and  feats  made  him  a  welcome  guest  in 
the  castle  and  the  palace,  and  won  applause  from  the  hum- 
blest, as  well  as  from  those  of  high  degree.* 

But  with  the  opening  of  the  twelfth  century  the  '  jon- TheTrou- 
gleur '  gives  place  to  the  '  trouvere.'  The  honour  of  the  first 
place,  in  j)oint  of  time,  in  this  new  class  of  songsters,  is  as- 
signed to  William,  duke  of  Guienne,  whose  name  belongs  to 
the  close  of  the  eleventh  century.  Some  fifty  years,  how- 
ever, pass,  before  we  meet  with  a  second  name  attaining  to 
any  such  distinction.     But  through  nearly  a  century  and  a 

*  *  The  following,'  says  Ellis,  '  may  perhaps  be  accepted  as  a  tolerable  sum- 
mary of  the  history  of  the  minstrels.  It  appears  likely  that  they  were  carried 
by  Rollo  into  France,  where  they  probably  introduced  a  certain  number  of 
their  native  traditions  ;  those,  for  instance,  relating  to  Orgier  le  Danios,  and 
other  northern  heroes,  who  were  afterwards  enUsted  into  the  tales  of  chivalry ; 
but  that,  being  deprived  of  the  mythology  of  their  original  religion,  and  cramped, 
perhaps,  as  well  by  the  sober  spirit  of  Christianity,  as  by  the  imperfection  of  a 
language  whose  tameness  was  utterly  inapplicable  to  the  sublime  obscurity  of 
their  native  poetry,  they  were  obliged  to  adopt  various  modes  of  amusing,  and 
to  unite  the  talents  of  the  mimic  and  the  juggler,  as  a  compensation  for  the 
defects  of  the  musician  and  poet.  Their  musical  skill,  however,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  number  of  their  instruments,  of  which  very  formidable  cata- 
logues are  to  be  found  in  every  description  of  a  royal  festival,  may  not  have 
been  contemptible  ;  and  their  poetry,  even  though  confined  to  short  composi- 
tions, Avas  not  likely  to  be  devoid  of  interest  to  their  hearers,  while  employed 
on  the  topics  of  flattery  or  satire.  Their  rewards  were  certainly  in  some  cases 
enormous,  and  prove  the  esteem  in  which  they  were  held.' — English  Metrical 
Romances^  Introduct.  §  i.  The  Minnesingers  were  the  troubadours  of  Ger- 
many :  they  flourished  during  the  same  period,  and  were  not  less  numerous. 

Vol.  I.— 25 


386  NORMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 

^c25.T'  lialf  from  that  time  the  names  of  sucli  asph-ants  become 
numberless.  The  trouvlre^  or  troubadour  artist,  was  of  a 
higher  grade  than  the  'jongleur.'  His  name  bespoke  him 
a  seeker  and  a  knower,  and  his  narratives  were  to  give 
proof  of  his  pretensions.  In  fact,  the  '  trouvere '  was  a 
scholarly  person.  For  the  most  part  these  men  were 
ordained  clergymen.  But  they  bore  the  name  of  'clercs 
lisant,'  a  designation  which  denoted,  that  with  the  status  of 
the  clerk,  they  aspired  to  be  the  men  of  letters  of  their  time. 
Tliey  were  not  bound  to  the  routine  of  the  convent,  nor  to 
the  duties  of  the  parish  priest.  Tliey  ranged  freely  from 
castle  to  castle,  and  tendered  acceptable  service  as  min- 
strels, as  scholars,  and  as  men  to  whom  the  training  of 
noble  youth  might  be  entrusted.  They  were  familiar  with 
the  treasures  locked  up  in  the  Latin  tongue,  and  could  give 
forth  the  lore  of  other  lands,  and  other  days,  to  knight  and 
lady,  in  the  tongue  spoken  by  them.  While  the  chronicler 
in  his  convent  is  full  in  his  account  of  the  doings  of  king  or 
noble  in  relation  to  the  church,  and,  above  all,  in  relation 
to  the  possessions  or  privileges  of  '  our  abbey  '—the  trcuvere 
dwells  with  a  like  interest,  but  with  much  more  spirit  and  life, 
on  events  and  scenes  with  which  the  gay  and  secular  world 
are  interested.  The  men  who  do  battle,  their  costume,  their 
weapons,  their  achievements,  their  love  aiFairs — all  are  da- 
guerroetyped.  So  is  it  with  the  pageant  on  the  coronation- 
day,  the  wedding-day,  or  at  the  grand  tournament.  There 
was  a  large  public  in  those  times,  as  in  our  o^vn,  who  wished 
to  know  all  about  such  scenes,  and  the  trouvere  was  in  the 
place  of  many  a  modem  contrivance  for  meeting  this  de- 
mand. Crowds  who  did  not  read  novels,  listened  to  them 
from  his  lips.  He  knew  better  than  other  men  what  had 
been  done,  or  was  doing,  and  could  report  it  better.  Eloise, 
in  one  of  her  extant  letters,  speaks  of  verses  written  in  am- 
orous measure  by  Abelard,  which  were  so  sweet  in  their 
language  and  melody,  that  his  name,  and  the  name  of  his 
Eloise,  were  in  the  mouths  of  all  classes,  even  of  the  most 
illiterate. 

Historical  E"or  was  it  the  living  world  only  that  the  trouvlre  was 

expected  to  present,  so  that  the  picture  should  seem  to  live 


THE    CONQUEST   IN   ITS    RELATION   TO    SOCIAL   LITE.         387 

anew  for  tliose  to  wliom  it  was  presented.  The  same  poetic  ^^^  lu- 
and  romantic  treatment  of  the  past  was  expected  from  liim.  '— 
And  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Anglo-Norman  t/rouvlre^  he 
did  not  disappoint  this  expectation.  History  and  fiction 
were  alike  in  his  domain,  and  often  the  one  was  mingled 
strangely  with  the  other.  Sad  blunders  does  he  sometimes 
make  in  matters  of  geography  and  chronology,  his  ancients 
of  a  thousand  years  before,  being  often  singularly  like  the 
men  and  women  of  his  own  time,  in  ideas,  language,  and 
all  things.  But,  with  all  its  faults,  this  trouvlre  literature 
was  most  refreshing  and  wholesome  in  its  influence  on  the 
people  for  whom  it  was  provided.  Even  the  stories  about 
fountains  guarded  by  dragons,  woods  filled  with  enchant- 
ments, fair  ladies  subject  to  base  durance  and  much  wrong, 
and  gallant  knights  prepared  to  brave  all  dangers  for  their 
rescue — even  these  come  as  an  awakening  influence  on  the 
slumbering  imagination  and  feeling  of  multitudes. 

The  effect  of  the  patronage  of  literature  by  Henry  I.  and 
his  queens  survived  through  the  disorders  of  the  reign  of 
Stephen.*  But  it  is  not  until  the  reign  of  Henry  H.  that 
we  become  sensible  to  the  influence  of  the  writings  of  the 
trouvlres  on  the  national  taste. 

In  our  days,  we  rarely  hear  the  British  History  of  Geoffrey  of 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  adverted  to,  except  in  terms  of  cen-  ^«°°^«'^^^- 
sure  and  contempt.  '  Lying  Geoffrey  '  is  the  name  some- 
times bestowed  upon  him.  And  truly,  as  a  history  of  Brit- 
ain, his  book  has  small  value.  But  as  a  species  of  his- 
torical novel,  such  as  the  genius  of  the  twelfth  century  could 
produce,  and  the  people  of  the  twelfth  century  could  in- 
tensely admire,  the  book  has  an  interest  and  a  worth  of  no 
ordinary  kind.     Within  five  years  from  its  appearance,  it 

*  Henry's  first  wife  was  the  good  queen  Maude,  daughter  of  Malcolm,  king 
of  Scotland,  by  his  Saxon  queen  Margaret.  It  is  in  the  following  somewhat 
querulous  terms  that  Malmesbury  refers  to  Maude's  patronage  of  the  kind  of 
literature  under  consideration  : — '  She  had  a  singular  pleasure  in  hearing  the 
service  of  God ;  and  on  this  account  was  thoughtlessly  prodigal  towards  clerks 
of  melodious  voices,  addressed  them  kindly,  gave  them  liberally,  promised 
them  still  more  abundantly.  Her  generosity  becoming  universally  known, 
crowds  of  scholars,  equally  famed  for  verse  and  for  singing,  came  over ;  and 
happy  did  he  account  himself  who  could  soothe  the  ears  of  the  queen  by  the 
novelty  of  his  song.' — Lib.  x.  Malmesbury  attributes  this  disposition  in  the 
queen  to  a  love  of  admiration,  but  is  obliged  to  admit  that  Maude  was  a  wo- 
man of  fervent  piety. 


388  NOEMANS   AND   ENGLISH. 

^c?S."^*  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  talked  about,  that  the  young  scholar 

who  had  not  become  familiar  with  it,  was  in  much  the  same 

condition  with  the  youth  among  ourselves  who  should  be 
obliged  to  confess  that  he  had  never  read  Bunyan's  Pil- 
grim^ s  Progress  or  Pobinson  Crusoe.  By  purchase,  or  by 
loan,  the  book  found  its  way  almost  everywhere  ;  and  those 
who  could  not  read  it,  might  be  seen  crowding  together  to 
listen  to  some  one  who  could  recite  its  most  touching  epi- 
sodes from  memory.  The  book  may  not  be  true  to  history, 
but  it  must  have  been  wonderfully  true  to  .nature.  For 
this  reason  did  the  popular  mind  dwell  upon  it,  and  the  poets 
of  later  time  have  gone  to  it  as  to  a  storehouse  of  the  bright 
and  beautiful.  '  Who  indeed  ever  marshalled  a  goodlier 
company,  all  instinct  with  poetic  life.  Empire-founding 
Brutus  ;  Sabrina,  stream-engulphed ;  Cordelia,  whose  stead- 
fast filial  piety  shines  out  amidst  the  tempest-stricken  scenes 
of  Lear's  sad  history,  like  the  calm  bright  star  on  the  vexed 
ocean ;  and  Artegal  and  Elidurus,  that  tale  of  devoted 
brotherly  love ;  Ferrex  and  Porrex,  that  tale  of  Cain-like 
hate  ;  and  king  Lud,  and  his  triumphant  burial-place ;  and 
Merlin  and  his  marvels  ;  and  king  Arthur — ^lie  upon  whose 
shrine  Pulci,  Boyardo,  Ariosto,  Chaucer,  Sackville,  Spenser, 
Drayton,  have  heaped  laurels — Arthur,  that  great  exemplar 
of  chivalry,  whom  Milton  himself  once  thought  to  make 
the  hero  of  some  poem  which  the  world  should  not  wil- 
lingly let  die.'  * 

Geoffrey  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  Benedictine  monk, 
belonging  to  a  monastery  of  that  order  in  Monmouth.  His 
book  appears  to  have  been  published  in  1147.  Five  years 
later  he  became  bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  He  died  in  1154. 
His  great  patron  was  Robert,  earl  of  Gloucester,  a  natural 
son  of  Henry  I.  He  had  the  reputation  of  being  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Breton  language ;  and  his  friend  Cale- 
nius,  archdeacon  of  Oxford,  is  said  to  have  brought  a  num- 
ber of  manuscripts  in  that  language  into  this  country,  relat- 
ing to  ancient  British  history,  which  he  requested  Geoffrey 
to  translate.  From  this  source,  together  with  the  "Welsh 
annals  and  traditions  accessible  to  him,  Geoffrey  has  been 

*  British  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  v.  p.  167. 


TIIE   CONQUEST   IN  ITS   RELATION  TO   SOCIAL  LIFE.         389 

supposed  to  have  drawn  liis  materials.     But  it  must  be  ^^25"^ 

remembered,  that  we  have  no  trace  of  anything  like  a  me-     

trical  romance  in  the  French  language  before  the  middle  of 
the  twelfth  century  at  the  earliest.*  The  popular  ballad, 
and  the  war-song,  existed,  as  they  had  existed  in  the  north 
long  before,  but  nothing  more  considerable.  While  among 
the  Bretons,  even  the  tradition  of  such  a  literature  is  not  to 
be  found.  The  oldest  writing  of  any  description  in  that 
language  does  not  go  farther  back  than  the  year  1450.t 
If  the  manuscripts  of  the  archdeacon  of  Oxford  came  from 
Brittany,  they  must  have  travelled  thither  from  Wales. 
In  fact,  as  stated  elsewhere,  the  substance  of  Geoffrey's  Brit- 
ish History  is  to  be  found  in  the  Welsh  Chronicle  by  Ty- 
silio.:!:  Geoffrey  indeed  has  expanded  the  fictions  of  his 
author,  and  made  considerable  additions  to  them  ;  but  the 
source  from  which  his  genius  derived  its  inspiration  is 
sufficiently  manifest.  In  the  British  History  of  Geoffrey 
of  Monmouth,  we  have  the  fruit,  not  of  the  Breton,  but  of 
the  ancient  British  mind,  in  the  department  of  historical 
romance.  Through  many  generations,  Geoffrey's  narrative 
was  feceived  in  England,  with  slight  exception,  as  genuine 
history.  It  was  first  written  in  Latin,  but  was  speedily 
translated  into  ISTorman,  English,  and  Welsh.  Copies  were 
multiplied  in  great  numbers,  and  the  work  was  embellished 
anew,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by  many  writers,  in  prose  and  in 
verse.  It  thus  became  the  basis  of  a  popular  historical  liter- 
ature— in  the  hands  of  Shakespeare,  of  a  dramatic  literature, 
the  fame  of  which  must  live  as  long  as  the  name  of  the 
great  bard  himself  shall  live. 

The  writer  who  contributed  most  to  make  the  contents 
of  the  British  History  familiar  to  the  English  was  Hichard 
Wace,  a  native  of  the  island  of  Jersey,  who  threw  the  sub- 
stance of  it  into  verse  in  IsTorman  French,  adding  to  it  con- 
siderably from  sources  or  inventions  of  his  own.  Wace 
presented  his  book,  when  complete,  to  Eleanor,  queen  of 
Henry  II.     Wace  also  wrote  a  chronicle  of  the  dukes  of 

*  Ellis's  Early  Metrical  Romances^  Introd. 

\  Hallam's  Introduction  to  the  Literary  Historu  of  JEurope. 

X  Page  102.  ^  ^  -^  ^ 


390  NOEMAKS   AND  ENGLISH. 

^CH^/e""  Normandy,  in  Alexandrine  metre,  intitled  The  Romance  of 

Hollo.     Among  the  names  most  distinguished  in  this  field 

of  literature  are  those  of  Gaimer,  Herman,  David  Bonoit, 
Luc  de  la  Barre,  Hugh  of  Rutland,  Simon  du  Fresne,  Luc 
du  Gast,  Walter  Mapes,  Eobert  de  Borrow,  Elie  de  Borrow, 
Rusteian  de  Pise,  Gervias,  and  Boson.  To  these  names 
some  add  those  of  archbishop  Langton  and  Richard  I. 
Some  works  of  this  class,  which  were  much  read  and  admir- 
ed, were  of  unknown,  or  doubtful  authorship,  as  the  Pil- 
grimage of  St.  Brandan^  the  Holy  Graal^  sometimes  called 
the  Roman  de  Perceval.,  and  the  separate  romances  con- 
cerning Prince  Arthur  and  Sir  Tristem.* 

chuSre!'  ^^^  i^*  the  ISTormans  knew  nothing  of  a  literature  of  this 
kind  until  long  after  their  settlement  in  England,  it  should 
be  acknowledged,  as  we  have  before  said,  that  their  skill  in 
architecture,  even  before  the  Conquest,  w^as  considerable. 
Admiration  of  such  works  was  a  passion  with  them.  Before 
the  close  of  the  tenth  century  they  had  adorned  their  coun- 
try with  many  beautiful  edifices  in  that  bold,  masculine 
Romanesque  style  which  they  had  adopted.  When  Wil- 
liam meditated  tlie  conquest  of  England,  the  dukes  of  *N'or- 
mandy,  and  the  nobles  who  did  them  homage,  had  learnt  to 
vie  with  each  other  in  their  zeal  to  cover  their  respective 
territories  with  such  monuments  of  their  opulence  and  taste. 
Castles,  city  fortifications,  churches,  monasteries,  everywhere 
bespoke  the  interest  of  the  race  in  such  works.  The  effect 
of  taste  in  this  form  soon  became  even  more  conspicuous  in 
England  than  it  had  been  in  ^Normandy.  ITorman  archi- 
tecture occupies  a  middle  ground  between  the  Roman  and 
the  Gothic.     It  embraces  much  of  the  solidity  and  gravity 

*  It  is  not  necessary  wc  should  a'ttempt  to  settle  any  of  the  questions 
which  have  been  raised  concerning  the  men  or  the  performances  above  men- 
tioned. The  reader  desirous  of  becoming  fully  acquainted  with  this  subject 
may  consult  the  following  worlds :  Warton's  History  of  English  Poetry ;  De  la 
Rue,  Essais  Historiques ;  Robert  of  Gloucester's  Chronicle,  edited  by  Hearne  ; 
Percy's  Relics  of  Ancient  Poetry  ;  The  Metrical  Romances  of  Ellis,  Ritson,  and 
Weber ;  Havelok  the  Dane,  edited  by  Sir  Francis  Madden  (Roxburgh  Club) ; 
History  of  English  Rhymes,  by  Edwin  Guest;  Reliquiae  Antiqiup.,  by  Wright 
andHalliday;  Early  Metrical  Romances  {(^am^cw  Society);  Layamon's  ^rjf^, 
or  Chronicle  of  Britain,  edited  by  Sir  F.  Madden;  Sir  Tristem,  edited  by  Sir 
Walter  Scott ;  Wright's  Biographia.  In  his  '  Anglo-Norman  Period '  Mr. 
Wright  has  given  some  account  of  above  two  hundred  persons  known  more  or 
less  as  authors. 


THE   CONQUEST   IN   ITS   RELATION   TO    SOCIAL   LIFE.         391 

of  tlio  former  style,  with  something  of  the  lightness  and  ^g^S"/' 
flexibility  of  the  latter.     It  retains  the  arch,  but  uses  that     — '-' 
element,  and  every  other,  with  a  licence  of  its  own.     E'oth- 
ino"  can  be  more  picturesque  than  some  of  the  domestic 
examples  in  this  style  of  building. 

So  did  the  powerful  and  the  wealthy  become  the  patrons  Retrospect 
of  litera^ture  and  art  in  Anglo-Norman  Britain.  In  the 
absence  of  higher  motives,  the  desire  of  fame,  and  a  passion 
for  such  splendour  as  was  possible  in  those  times,  were 
sufficient  to  prompt  many  to  this  policy.  The  result  we  see 
in  the  increase  of  learned  men ;  in  the  multiplication  and  im- 
provement of  institutions  in  aid  of  learning  ;  in  the  number 
of  authors  who  distinguish  themselves  as  chroniclers,  histo- 
rians, poets,  and  romance  writers ;  and  in  the  consequent 
wider  diffusion  of  a  taste  for  literature  and  refinement. 

The  languages  spoken  in  England  at  this  time  were  the 
Latin,  the  French,  and  the  English.  All  laymen  were  not 
ignorant  of  Latin  ;  but  even  nobles  continued  to  regard  such 
ignorance  as  little  if  at  all  discreditable  to  them.  The  lan- 
guage spoken  by  the  Normans  was  French  ;  but  towards 
the  close  of  this  period  the  Norman-French  had  borrowed 
much  from  the  Saxon,  and  the  Saxon  in  turn  had  borrowed 
something  from  the  Norman.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
Conqueror  meditated  extinguishing  the  language  of  the 
people  he  had  subdued.  But  the  statement  is  unwarranted. 
"William  endeavoured  to  learn  the  English  language.  All 
his  charters  were  given  in  that  tongue.  His  successors  fol- 
lowed his  example  in  this  respect ;  and  when  the  English 
did  give  place  to  another  language,  it  was  to  the  Latin,  and 
not  to  the  French.  French,  indeed,  was  the  language  of  the 
courts  of  law,  and  this  must  Jiave  been  a  great  disadvan- 
tage to  the  English ;  but  the  usage  was  a  necessity — the 
administrators  of  the  law  could  speak  in  no  other  tongue. 
But  in  the  reign  of  king  John,  the  English  was  gaining  fast 
everywhere  upon  the  French,  and  the  silent  action  of  time 
was  about  to  show,  in  this  manner,  the  great  preponderance, 
in  number  and  influence,  still  possessed  by  the  Saxon  race 
in  England. 

By  the  Conquest,  our  island  almost  ceased  to  be  insular. 


392  NORMANS  AND  ENGLISH. 

BOOK  III.  England  became  a  consolidated  power,  participating  in  all 
— -  the  questions  and  interests  affecting  the  nations  of  Europe. 
In  the  great  controversy,  for  example,  between  the  ecclesi- 
astical and  the  civil  power,  England  has  its  full  share.  All 
the  subtle  pleas  on  which  such  controversies  were  founded 
became  familiar  to  men's  thoughts  in  this  country.  Ecclesi- 
astical disputes,  military  affairs  in  l^ormandy,  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Crusades,  the  fame  of  our  Richard  I.  in 
those  enterprises,  the  new  laws,  and  the  new  features  in  the 
administration  of  law— all  may  be  said  to  have  been  both  the 
effects  and  the  causes  of  a  new  wakefulness,  disposing  men 
to  observe,  to  reflect,  and  judge  in  regard  to  what  was  pass- 
ing about  them.  The  five  hundred  monasteries  had  their 
schools,  but  the  five  hundred  towns  and  cities  were  all 
schools  ;  and  in  these  last,  the  lessons  taught,  though  little 
marked  or  perceived,  were  ceaseless,  manifold,  and  potent. 
By  degrees,  l^orman  and  Saxon  became  more  equal.  Mar- 
riages between  the  two  races  became  every-day  events.  In 
the  face  of  the  law  and  of  the  magistrate,  the  two  races  may 
be  said  by  this  time  to  be  two  races  no  longer.  If  the  Saxon 
burgess,  and  the  E'orman  alderman,  still  looked  at  times 
with  jealousy  upon  each  other,  the  fight  between  them 
became  comparatively  fair  and  harmless,  as  it  became  less  a 
battle  of  the  strong  against  the  weak.  "When  the  corpse  of 
king  John  was  laid  in  Worcester  cathedral,  the  dark  day  in 
the  history  of  the  English  had  passed.  In  future,  the  ^N'or- 
man,  whether  prince  or  baron,  must  demean  himself  honour- 
ably towards  the  Englishman,  or  cease  to  be  powerful. 
The  revolution  of  this  period  to  the  Saxon,  had  consisted  in 
his  being  defeated,  despoiled,  downtrodden — and  in  his  recov- 
ering himself  from  that  position,  by  his  own  patient  energy, 
so  as  to  regain  from  the  new  race  of  kings  all  the  liberty 
he  had  lost,  and  guarantees  for  that  liberty  wdiicli  were 
full  of  the  seeds  of  a  greater  liberty  to  come.  "With 
this  revolution  to  the  Saxon,  there  came  revolution  to 
the  ISforman.  The  IS'orman  is  no  longer  a  man  of  military 
science,  and  nothing  more — no  longer  a  mere  patron  of  let- 
ters, with  scarcely  a  tincture  of  them  himself.  His  intelli- 
gence is  enlarged.     His  tastes  are  expanded  and  refined. 


THE   CONQUEST  IN   ITS   RELATION  TO   SOCIAL   LIFE.         393 

The  country  of  his  adoption  is  becoming  more  an  object  of  ^^^^  iji- 

affection  to  him  than  the  country  from  which  he  has  derived     

his  name.  In  short,  the  Norman  is  about  to  disappear  in 
the  Englishman.  The  Englishman  is  not  about  to  disap- 
pear in  the  Norman.  After  all,  the  oldest  dwellers  upon 
the  soil  have  proved  to  be  the  strongest.* 

*  The  following  passage  indicates  the  admixture  of  races  that  had  taken 
place  in  about  a  century  and  a  half  from  the  Conquest : — 

'  D.  Nunquid  pro  murdro  debet  imputari  clandestina  mors  Anglici  sicut 
Normanni. 

*  M.  A  prima  institutione  non  debet,  sicut  audisti:  sed  jam  cohabitantibus 
Anglicis  et  Normannis,  et  alterutrum  uxores  ducentibus,  vel  nubentibus,  sic 
permixtas  sunt  nationes,  ut  vix  discerni  possit  hodie,  de  liberis  loquor,  quis 
Anglicus  quis  Normannus  sit  genere  ;  exceptis  duntaxat  ascriptitlis  qui  Villani 
dicuntur,  quibus  non  est  liberum  obstantibus  dominis  suis  a  sui  status  conditi- 
one  discedere.  Ea  propter  pene  quicunque  sic  hodie  occisus  reperitur,  ut  mur- 
drum punitur  exceptis  his  quibus  certa  sunt  ut  diximus  servilis  conditionis  in- 
dicia.'— Dialogus  de  Scaccario,  lib.  i.     Madox,  Hist.  Excheq.  26. 


BOOK  IV. 

ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS 


CHAPTER  I. 

INFLUENCE   OF  THE   WAES    OF   ENGLAND    ON   THE 
ENGLISH   NATIONALITY. 

BOOK  IV.  ^HE  reign  of  John  closed  in  1216.  His  son  and  snc- 
^^*     -*-    cessor,  Henrj  TH.,  was  then  only  ten  years  of  age.    Tlie 

Heury  III.  asccndency  of  the  barons  at  the  time  of  signing  the  Great 
Charter,  had  so  far  declined  subsequently,  that  they  had 
invited  prince  Louis  of  France,  with  a  French  army,  to  their 
assistance.  Tliis  army  was  in  England  when  John  died. 
But  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  who  became  protector  to  the 
young  king,  succeeded  in  reconciling  many  of  the  discon- 
tented chiefs,  and  in  compelling  the  prince  and  his  followers 
to  withdraw  from  the  kingdom.  Unhappily  the  wise 
administration  of  Pembroke  was  of  short  duration.  He 
died  in  1219. 

Henry's  Heurv  made  several  attempts  to  recover  the  possessions 

of  the  English  crown  in  France.  Tlie  first  was  in  1224,  and 
was  partially  successful.'^'  The  second,  in  1229,  was  more 
considerable,  and  was  conducted  by  the  king  in  person,  but 
ended  in  failure  and  disgrace. f    Not  less  signal  was  the 

*  Rymer,  i.  277-295.     Matt.  Paris,  223. 
f  Annal.  Waverl.  192.     Matt.  Paris,  248-252. 


wars. 


INFLrENCE   OF   WAR   ON   ENGLISH   NATIONALITY.  395 

disgrace  which  attended  an  expedition  into  that  country  in  ^^^^  iv. 

1242,  in  which  Henry  was  weak  enough  to  attempt  to  sus-     

tain  the  earl  of  Marche,  who  had  married  the  queen  mother, 
Isabella,  in  refusing  homage  to  the  king  of  France  for  lands 
held  frrom  him  in  Poictou.*  An  expedition  into  Gascony 
in  1254  had  a  somewhat  better  termination.  It  sufficed  to 
put  an  end  to  the  attempts  of  the  king  of  Castile  to  assume 
the  sovereignty  over  that  province.f  But  the  hold  of  the 
English  crown  on  those  territories  was  slight,  and  the  Nor- 
mans in  England  at  this  time  had  ceased  to  feel  any  deep 
interest  in  the  connexion  which  the  court  strove  to  perpet- 
uate between  the  two  countries. 

Nothino^  is  more  observable  during  this  reiarn  than  the  Character  of 

T    .  ^  .  ^  ..  -,  .  his  reign. 

complaints  made  agamst  favouritism,  and  against  favouritism 
as  bestowed  upon  foreigners.  This  weakness  in  the  king, 
together  with  his  habitual  insincerity  and  his  want  of  cour- 
age, economy,  and  self-government,  exposed  him  to  much 
humiliation  and  suffering.  His  reign  extended  to  more 
than  half  a  century,  and  it  is  filled  with  civil  war,  or  with 
the  intrigues  of  faction.  It  was  natural  that  the  royal  au- 
thority should  decline  during  this  period.  The  doctrine  of 
resistance  became  familiar  to  the  minds  of  all  men.  It  is 
in  these  circumstances  that  our  first  House  of  Commons 
makes  its  appearance.  The  vices  of  our  kings  have  often 
proved  favourable  to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

Edward,  who  succeeded  his  father,  had  given  proofs  of  iJwSdi^* 
capacity  and  courage  during  the  troubles  which  marked  the 
close  of  the  last' reign.  It  was  soon  felt  that  the  sceptre  had  . 
passed  from  the  hand  of  the  weak  to  the  hand  of  the  strong. 
During  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  sway,  England  and 
France  were  at  peace.  In  1286  Edward  did  homage  in 
Paris  to  Philip  the  Fair  for  certain  lands  held  by  him  under 
the  crown  of  France.  But  in  1293  the  peace  between  the 
two  countries  was  disturbed. 

Some  English  and  French  sailors  came  to  words  and  blows  :N'aTai  vic- 

.  tory  of  the 

about  access  to  a  spring  of  fresh  water  near  Bayonne,  and  one  English, 
of  the  Frenchmen  was  killed.     The  matter  was  soon  noised 

*  M.  West.  306.     M.  Paris,  892,  et  seq.     Chroji.  Dunst.  153. 
f  Rymer,  i.  505.     M.  West.  256.     M.  Paris,  531. 


396  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^HA?i^'  ^^i'<^^^-    The  national  ■  feeling,  so  easily  excited  between 

French  and  English  in  later  times,  began  to  manifest  itself 

bitterly  on  both  sides.  Tlie  narrow  seas  were  suddenly 
covered  with  petty  instances  of  maritime  hostility.  Yery 
soon  the  l^ormans  sent  out  a  fleet  of  two  hundred  armed 
vessels  to  chastise  the  islanders.  This  armament  sailed 
southward,  seizing  all  English  vessels  that  came  in  its  way  ; 
and  not  content  with  appropriating  ships  and  cargo,  they 
hung  the  crews.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Cinque  Ports  were 
soon  apprised  of  these  proceedings,  and  fifty  strong-built 
vessels  were  immediately  manned,  and  sent  to  intercept  the 
enemy  on  his  return.  The  two  fleets  met ;  the  IN^ormans, 
after  an  obstinate  resistance,  were  completely  defeated  ;  and 
as  no  quarter  was  given,  the  destruction^ was  enormous. 
Fifteen  thousand  Normans  are  said  to  have  perished.*^  The 
ISTormans  of  N^ormandy  and  the  Normans  of  England  were 
not  likely  to  be  brought  nearer  together  by  the  fortunes  of 
that  day.  ISTor  were  the  sons  of  the  old  Saxon  and  Danish 
sea-kings  likely  to  feel  abashed  in  the  presence  of  their 
Norman  neighbours  when  they  had  a  few  such  days  to  look 
back  upon.  It  seems  probable  that  this  mixed  race  of 
islanders  will  soon  become  one,  like  the  sea  which  encircles 
them,  and  which  promises  to  be  a  grand  element  in  their 
destiny. 

Edward  was  fully  occupied  at  this  time  with  his  war  in 
Scotland,  and  not  in  a  condition  to  meet  the  haughty  re- 
monstrance of  the  king  of  France  as  his  temper  might  have 
prompted.  Philip  summoned  him  to  appear  before  him  in 
Paris,  to  answer,  as  duke  of  Guienne,  for  the  wrong  said  to 
have  been  perpetrated  by  his  subjects  on  the  subjects  of  his 
superior.  At  the  same  time,  the  French  king  entered  into 
a  treaty  with  the  king  of  Scotland,  that  so  Edward,  if  not 
submissive  to  the  call  made  upon  him,  might  have  a  war 
upon  his  hands  in  both  countries.f 
Perfidy  of  Edward  despatched  his  brother  Edmund,  earl  of  Lan- 

phiiip  the    caster,  to  treat  of  this  matter  in  Paris.    But  Philip  was  inex- 
orable.    Nothing  short  of  the  presence  of  the  duke  in  per- 

*  Heming.  i.  39  et  seq     Walsingham,  58  et  seq. 

f  Trivet.  Annal.  an.  1294.    Walsingham,  60.     Rymer,  ii.  680.     Heming, 
i.  Te,  11. 


INFLrENCE   OF   WAE   ON   ENGLISH   NATIONALITY.  397 

son  would  satisfy  him.     When  the  earl  was  about  to  leave  book  iv 

the  court,  the  queen-dowager  and  the  reigning  queen  urged,     

that  in  the  absence  of  the  duke  of  Guie^ne,  the  point  of 
honor  should  be  covered  by  a  temporary  surrender  of  the 
province  itself  into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  France.  Of 
course  the  promise  was  made,  that  if  the  territory  was  so 
surrendered,  it  should  be  voluntarily  restored.  Philip  gave 
this  pledge  in  the  presence  of  several  witnesses.  The  sur- 
render was  accordingly  made.  But  this  done,  the  earl  of 
Lancaster  found,  to  his  amazement,  that  it  was  in  vain  to 
remind  the  king  of  his  promise  to  restore  what  had  been 
thus  relinquished.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  Edward's  indigna- 
tion on  being  apprised  of  this  perfidy.* 

But  the  king  of  England  felt  that  success  against  the  ^^dlf  ^  ^''■ 
Scots  was  to  him  a  matter  of  greater  moment  than  any  chas-  ^'■'^°^®- 
tisement  he  might  inflict  on  the  king  of  France.     The  sum-  ^ 

mons  from  Philip  came  in  1294,  and  in  the  following  year 
the  French  king  made  a  descent  on  the  coast  of  England, 
and  destroyed  the  town  of  Dover.  It  is  not,  however,  until 
the  August  of  1297  that  Edward  finds  himself  in  a  position 
to  attempt  the  invasion  of  France.  His  approach  to  France 
in  that  year  was  through  the  Low  Countries.  His  army  is 
reported  as  numbering  60,000  men.  But  his  allies  are  said 
to  have  been  treacherous,  the  winter  soon,  came,  and  after  a 
campaign  of  eight  months,  nothing  decisive  had  been 
done. 

The  two  kings  at  length  agreed  that  their  differences  Peace  re- 
should  be  decided  by  arbitration,  and  that  pope  Boni- 
face should  be  the  arbitrator.  To  give  permanence  to  the 
settlement  so  realized,  Boniface  proposed  that  Edward 
should  marry  Margaret,  the  sister  of  the  French  king,  and 
that  his  eldest  son  should  marry  Isabella,  the  daughter  of 
that  monarch.  In  the  autumn  of  1299  the  two  royal  families 
were  thus  united.f 

Guienne  and  Poictou  were  the  only  provinces  of  France  Accession  of 
now  in  possession  of  the  English.     The  unhappy  reign  of 

*  Kvmer,  ii.  620.     Heming.  i.  41,  42.     Walsing.  01. 

f  Rymer,  ii.  761,  795  et  seq.  817,  841-87.     Heming.  i.  112-114,  16-5,  168 
170.     Knighton,  Col.  2512.     M.  Westminster,  a.d.  1298,  1299. 


398  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

BOOK  IV.  Edward  II.  extended  to  twenty  j^ears.     During  some  three- 

fourths  of  that  period  there  were  no  differences  between 

France  and  England.  But  in  1324,  Edward  was  summoned 
in  peremptory  terms  to  do  homage  to  Philip  the  Long  for  his 
French  possessions.  To  evade  this  demand,  the  king  first 
sent  ambassadors,  then  his  queen,  and,  lastly,  he  resigned 
the  two  provinces  into  the  hands  of  his  son.  But  his  ease 
and  self-indulgence  were  not  secured  by  these  means.  His 
weakness,  his  frivolity,  and,  above  all,  his  favouritisms,  had 
filled  nearly  all  the  families  of  the  kingdom  with  disafi'ec- 
tion,  his  own  not  excepted.  In  the  end,  he  became  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  subjects ;  and  his  prison,  as 
commonly  happens  in  the  history  of  kings,  was  a  near 
passage  to  the  grave. 

Eesuitsof  rji|      p^reat  war  of  Edward  L,  it  must  be  remembered, 

the  wars  or  o  ^  7 

Edward  I.  ^^,^g  ^-^^^  ]^jg  ^^^^j.  ^gaiust  Fraucc,  nor  his  war  against  the 
"Welsh.  It  was  his  war  with  Scotland.  France  did  not 
submit  to  the  power  of  the  king  of  England,  but  she  was 
taught  to  respect  it.  The  conquest  of  "Wales  by  Edward 
was  complete  and  final,  the  heir-apparent  to  the  English 
crown  being  henceforth  proclaimed  as  the  prince  of  that 
country.  But  the  war  with  Scotland  was  waged  on  less 
satisfactory  ground,  was  more  fiuctuating,  more  protracted, 
more  costly,  and  less  decisive  in  its  result.  The  patriotism 
of  Scotland  rose  to  its  highest  in  that  age.  "What  the  "Wal- 
laces and  Bruces  of  that  country  could  do  was  then  done. 
Only  the  genius  of  an  Edward  could  have  prevailed  against 
a  people  so  influenced.  But  the  fact  to  be  especially  ob- 
served by  the  reader  is,  that  in  all  these  wars  the  English 
feeling  grew  to  be  more  and  more  with  the  king,  disposing 
the  nation  at  large  to  take  upon  itself  many  heavy  burdens, 
and  even  to  bear  with  many  a  sudden  and  illegal  exaction, 
rather  than  see  the  national  cause  dishonoured.  The  feeling 
which  had  so  long  tended  to  divide  IS'orman  and  Saxon  be- 
came less  and  less  perceptible.  Everything  that  could  be- 
speak the  growth  of  a  national — we  may  say,  a  truly  English 
— unity,  became  more  manifest  almost  from  day  to  day. 
Men  whose  fathers  had  faced  each  other  at  Hastings,  now 
took  their  place  side  by  side  in  front  of  the  common  foe. 


INFLUENCE   OF  WAR  ON  ENGLISH  NATIONALITY.  399 

The  memories  of  their  common  home  and  heritage  made  ^5?^^^  ^7- 

o  Chap.  1. 

them  strong  in  the  feeling  natural  to  such  relationships.     

The  question  was  no  longer  what  might  be  possible  to  E^or- 
mans,  but  what  might  be  done  by  the  stout  heart  and  the 
strong  hand  of  the  English.  Wars  entail  many  evils,  but 
in  this  world  there  is  no  evil  without  its  good  ;  and  often 
the  greatest  evil  is  compensated  in  being  made  parent  to 
some  of  the  highest  forms  of  good. 

The  reign  of  Edward  III.,  however,  was  more  memo-  Edward 
rable  than  that  of  Edward  I.  in  its  tendency  to  mersie  the  quan-ei 

■XT  P     T  .        1  •  •        1        -n«       1*.  1  rrn       1  .  with  Philip 

JNorman  leelmg  m  this  manner  m  the  Ji.ngiish.  ihe  kings  of  Vaiois. 
of  France  did  much  to  irritate  both  the  kings  and  the 
people  of  England,  by  the  ostentatious  manner  in  which  it 
was  their  pleasure  to  exact  homage  for  the  lands  subject  to 
the  English  crown  in  that  country.  It  is  true,  the  homage 
was  not  to  be  understood  as  paid  by  the  king  of  England, 
simply  by  the  cliief  of  a  province,  supposed  to  exist  sepa- 
rately in  his  person.  This  distinction,  however,  was  too 
subtle  to  be  easily  apprehended ;  and  one  king  kneeling 
at  the  feet  of  another,  seemed  in  that  act  to  be  taking  the 
place  of  an  inferior.  But  the  very  considerations  which, 
made  this  ceremony  so  little  agreeable  to  the  kings  of  Eng- 
land, gave  it  importance  in  tlie  eyes  of  the  kings  of  France. 
In  the  second  year  of  his  reign,  Edward  was  required  by 
the  new  king,  Philip  of  Yalois,  to  appear  in  the  French 
court,  and  there  to  perform  this  unwelcome  service. 

Edward  had  more  than  one  reason  for  looking  with  dis- 
taste on  this  summons.  His  mother,  Isabella,  was  daughter 
of  Philip  the  Fair.  The  Salic  law,  which  in  France  pre- 
cluded his  mother  from  the  throne  on  account  of  her  sex,  did 
not,  he  maintained,  preclude  himself,  as  her  male  offspring. 
It  was  only  by  repudiating  this  doctrine,  and  extending  the 
disability,  not  only  to  females  in  the  direct  line,  but  to  their 
descendants,  that  Philip  of  Yalois  had  become  king.  Ed- 
ward, however,  deemed  it  prudent  for  the  present  to  com- 
ply with  the  demand  of  Philip  ;  but  first  declared  to  his 
council,  that  what  he  was  about  to  do  would  be  done 
under  constraint,  and  should  not  deter  him  from  asserting 


400  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^ch5.\^'  ^^^^  ^'^g^*  ^^  *^®  crown  of  France  on  a  future  day,  should  lie 
see  occasion." 

What  Edward  saw  of  France,  and  of  the  French  court, 
on  this  errand,  only  gave  more  fixedness  and  fascination  to 
his  idea  of  conquest  in  that  country.  In  those  days,  France 
and  Scotland  were  always  leagued,  either  secretly  or 
openly,  against  England.  It  was  in  their  power  to  create 
diversions  in  favour  of  each  other,  and  so  to  weaken  the 
common  enemy.  But  these  double  tactics  only  seemed  to 
give  a  double  intensity  to  the  antagonism  of  the  English. 
The  enemies  of  England  to  whom  Scotland  was  not  a  place 
of  safety,  found  a  ready  asylum  in  France.  In  1337,  it  was 
no  secret  that  Philip  had  purposed  sending  considerable  suc- 
cours to  the  party  of  David  Bruce  in  Scotland.  It  is  at 
this  juncture  that  Edward  decides  on  invading  France. 
Effect  of  It  would  require  large  space  to  describe  adequately  the 

of  Edward    fortuncs  of  this  war  during  the  nine  years  which  preceded 
national       the  battle  of  Cressy,  and  the  ten  years  which  intervened 

spirit  of  tlie  "^  '  ♦^ 

English,  between  that  victory  and  the  victory  of  Poictiers ;  or  to 
do  justice  to  those  naval  achievements  in  which  the  king 
commanded  in  person.  On  land  and  sea  English  skill  and 
English  bravery  became  the  admiration,  or  the  envy,  of 
Christendom.  The  odds  arrayed  against  the  English  at 
^  Cressy,  and  especially  at  Poictiers,  might  have  seemed  to 
preclude  all  hope  of  success  ;  and  nothing  but  the  conscious- 
ness of  a  higher  military  sagacity  in  the  commanders,  and 
of  a  more  thorough  military  discipline  in  the  men,  could 
have  prompted  either  to  look  on  that  success  as  possible. 
On  the  eve  of  those  battles  the  perils  of  the  English  army 
had  reached  the  lowest  point.  But  the  courage  evinced  in 
those  dread  hours  was  not  the  wildness  of  despair — it  was 
manifestly  the  discretion  of  the  wise.  The  few  transcended 
the  many  in  moral  power.  By  that  means,  and  not  by 
accident  of  any  kind,  the  few  became  the  victors.  In  those 
wars,  England  began  with  too  much  dependence  on  allies 
and  mercenaries.  The  result  was  disappointment  and  dis- 
aster. But  to  lean  on  the  firm  hand  and  matchless  science 
of  her  own  archers,  on  the  line  of  adamant  presented  by 

*  Rymcr,  iv.  S81-390. 


INFLUENCE   OF  WAI4   ON  ENGLISH  NATIONALITY.  401 

her  own  swordsmen,  was  not  to  lean  in  vain,  whether  in  ^2^^^' 

sustaining  an  onset,  moving  from  an  ambuscade,  or  storm-     

ing  a  breach.  At  Cressy  and  Poictiers  the  hero  was  the 
heir  apparent  to  the  English  throne — that  prince  of  the 
sable  cuirass,  in  whom  the  highest  virtues  that  fiction  had 
been  wont  to  ascribe  to  chivalry  were  present  and  sur- 
passed.'^* 

The  demands  made  on  the  resources  of  England  to 
carry  on  these  wars  were  unprecedented ;  and  while  Edward 
always  aimed  to  take  his  parliaments  along  with  him,  many 
of  his  expedients  for  raising  njoney  were  such  as  no  law 
could  be  said  to  have  sanctioned.  But  these  burdens,  though 
extending  o\^er  the  space  of  a  generation,  were  in  the  main 
willingly  borne  ;  and  the  king  was  allowed  to  compensate 
in  other  ways  for  the  occasional  arbitrariness  of  his  proceed- 
ings. It  was  the  English  standard  that  floated  over  the 
plains  of  France,  or  along  the  skirts  of  the  Grampians,  and, 
cost  what  it  might,  that  standard  was  not  to  be  prostrated 
or  dishonoured..  In  these  struggles  there  was  a  largeness 
and  depth  of  feeling  which  sufficed  to  put  an  end  to  the  lit- 
tleness of  faction,  to  extinguish  the  last  remains  of  the  ani- 
mosities of  race,  and  to  give  a  new  sense  of  common  interest 
to  the  heart  of  the  nation. 

It  is  true,  the  time  comes  when  the  king  of  Scotland 
leaves  the  Tower  of  London  to  appear  again  among  his 
subjects;  when  the  king  of  France  leaves  those  dark  walls 
to  reascend  the  throne  of  his  ancestors  ;  and  when  Edw^ard 
has  to  look  on  almost  all  the  acquisitions  he  had  made  as 
having  fallen  aw^ay  from  him.  But  it  was  well  that  such 
should  have  been  the  issue.  Had  the  sovereign  of  England 
become  the  sovereign  of  France,  this  island  must  have  sunk 
into  a  mere  appanage  to  that  kingdom,  and  could  hardly 
have  become  the  Great  Britain  now  known  to  history.  But 
it  was  not  given  to  our  ancestors  in  those  days  to  see  this 
probable  result  of  successes  which  they  w^ere  prepared  to 
seek  at  the  cost  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure.  Our  na- 
tional possessions  were  not  augmented  by  those  wars,  but 

*  Froissart,  bk.  i.  c.  51,  128-132,  159-164.     Kymer,  v.  195,  525,  869,  870. 
Walsing.  166-1*72.     Knighton,  5277,  5288. 
Vol.  I.— 26 


402  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

B^OK  IV.  the  gains  of  the  nation  from  this  source,  notwithstanding  its 

expenditure  and  losses,  were  great  and  permanent.     "Wars 

abroad  became  the  spring  of  geniality,  unity,  and  power 
at  home. 

We  are  not  required  to  enter  into  the  question  of  the 
justice  or  injustice  of  the  wars  carried  on  by  Edward  I.,  or 
Edward  III.  The  grounds  alleged  in  defence  of  those 
enterprises  are  manifestly  untenable,  or  at  the  best  doubt- 
ful. But  the  English  people  did  not  see  them  in  that  light, 
and  the  effect  of  those  great  undertakings  on  the  feeling  of 
the  nation  is  a  fact  wholly  independent  of  such  inquiries. 

The  French  court  was  little  mindful  of  the  treat}^  of 
Bretigny,  which  followed  the  victories  of  the  English. 
Efforts  the  most  ceaseless  and  unscrupulous  were  made,  not 
only  to  regain  for  France  all  she  had  lost,  but  to  excite 
opposition  to  English  rule  even  in  the  provinces  which  had 
been  then  long  subject  to  it*  The  advanced  age  of  Edward 
III.,  and  the  declining  health  of  the  Black  Prince,  were  cir- 
cumstances favourable  to  such  a  policy.  But  the  fact  that 
the  next  English  sovereign  bore  the  name  of  Bichard  of 
Bordeaux,  in  honour  of  his  birthplace,  contributed  to 
strengthen  the  English  connexion  in  those  provinces  ;  nor 
could  the  people  of  those  countries  be  insensible  to  the 
mildness  of  the  English  sway,  compared  with  that  seen  to  be 
everywhere  exercised  by  the  crown  of  France. 
Henry  IV.  But  Hciiry  lY.  dethroned  Bichard,  and  became  king  in 

his  stead.  France  saw  in  this  event  a  new  occasion  for 
attempting  to  spread  disaffection  among  the  subjects  of  the 
English  crown  in  that  country.  French  affairs  thus  became 
unsettled.  ITot  less  so  those  of  Wales  and  Scotland.  With 
hostilities  from  all  those  quarters,  the  new  king  found  him- 
self obliged  to  deal  with  disaffection  and  conspiracy  among 
his  own  subjects,  and  where  least  expected.  His  troubles 
from  these  sources  extend  through  the  first  seven  or  eight 
years  of  his  reign  ;  and  when  the  prize  which  he  had  seized 
appeared  at  length  to  have  become  secure,  there  was  the 
remembrance  of  the  crime  by  which  that  end  had  been 
accomplished,  which  never  ceased  to  people  the  conscience 
and  imagination  of  the  usurper  with  unwelcome  images. 


—his  reign. 


INFLUENCE   OF  WAR  ON  ENGLISH  NATIONALITY.  403 

To  thia  reign  belong  the  adventures  of  the  Hotspurs,  Glen-  book  iv. 
dowers,  and  others,  to  whose  temperament  and  character,     — '- 
if  not  to  their  true  history,  our  great  bard  has  given  such 
a  vivid  reality. 

Henry  IV.  had  wholly  lost  before  his  death,  the  measure 
of  popularity  he  possessed  in  the  early  portion  of  his  reign. 
His  jealousy  and  suspicion  had  extended  even  to  his  own 
son,  whom  he  had  excluded  from  all  power,  civil  or  mili- 
tary, lest  an  undutiful  and  disloyal  use  should  be  made  of 
it.  On  his  death-bed,  the  king  counselled  his  son  to  keep 
*the  great  barons  out  of  mischief  by  employing  them  in 
war  ;  and  bequeathed  to  him  the  policy  of  religious  persecu- 
tion, as  the  price  that  must  be  paid  if  the  clergy  were  to 
be  used  as  a  balance  against  the  more  powerful  among  the 
laity.  The  heir-apparent  was  fully  prepared  to  act  upon 
these  maxims. 

On  the  accession  of  Henry  Y.  the  illness  of  the  kins;  of  Honry  v 

«/  ^  — state  of 

France  had  left  that  country  to  become  the  prey  of  two  France, 
great  factions,  those  of  Burgundy  and  Orleans.  The  dissen- 
sions and  devastations  thus  originated  covered  the  land,  and 
exposed  it  to  assault  on  every  side.  Henry  Y.  was  no 
sooner  on  the  throne  than  he  began  to  meditate  an  invasion 
of  that  kingdom.  He  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Ed- 
ward HI.,  and  in  so  doing,  according  to  his  reasoning,  had 
succeeded  to  the  claims  of  that  monarch  on  the  French 
crown.  France,  moreover,  had  acted  perfidiously  and  in- 
solently towards  England  for  many  years  past,  and  must  be 
expected  so  to  do,  unless  made  to  feel  the  impolicy  of  such 
a  course  of  proceeding. 

l^othing,  however,  could  be  more  unfounded  than  the 
claims  set  forth  by  the  king  of  England.  But  the  passions 
of  the  great  men,  and  of  the  people  at  large,  were  in  favour 
of  the  enterprise  ;  and  the  clergy,  with  archbishop  Chichele 
at  their  head,  were  most  vehement  in  its  support — such  an 
employment  of  knights  and  nobles  being  sure,  it  was  thought, 
to  call  off  their  attention  from  those  ecclesiastical  reforms 
on  which  many  of  them  were  disposed  to  look  with  too 
much  favour. 

Henry  left  Southampton  with  a  fleet  of  fifteen  hundred 


404 


ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 


BOOK 
Chap. 


"War  with 
France. 


Y'  vessels,  containing  6,000  men-at-arms,  and  24,000  archers. 
His  first  enterprise  was  against  the  town  of  Harflenr.  Five 
weeks  were  consumed  in  reducing  that  place.  By  this  time 
September  was  approaching  its  close.  Tlie  English  army, 
too,  had  suifered  much  from  sickness  ;  and  having  garrisoned 
the  town,  Henry  decided  on  returning  to  England  for  the 
winter.  But  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Harfleur,  appears  to 
have  arrested  the  course  of  intrigue  and  faction  amongst  Ae 
French.  Tidings  now  reached  the  English,  that  an  army  of 
more  than  100,000  Frenchmen  would  soon  be  upon  their 
path.  Henry  might  have  embarked  at  Harfleur,  and  so 
have  evaded  the  enemy.  But  such  a  movement  would  have 
borne  too  much  the  appearance  of  flight.  He  resolved  to 
march  in  the  direction  of  Calais.  This  he  did  without 
hurry  and  without  disorder.  The  army  was  not  insensible 
to  its  danger.  But  the  king  shared  in  all  its  hardships,  and 
by  his  fearless  speech  and  genial  bearing,  seemed  to  infuse 
his  own  spirit  into  the  humblest  of  his  followers.  Of  the 
distinctions  of  rank  he  would  know  little.  Every  brave 
man  was  to  him  a  man  of  gentle  blood  ;  and  the  man  who 
should  shed  blood  with  him  was  of  his  own  blood.  The 
words  of  fire  which  our  great  dramatist  has  made  him  ad- 
dress to  those  men  when  about  to  ascend^the  walls  of  Har- 
fleur, are  such  in  substance  as  history  reports  him  to  have 
uttered.  'No  shame  of  England,  or  of  English  blood,  in  the 
language  of  that  chivalrous  descendant  from .  a  line  of  Nor- 
man kings !  * 

*  Once  more  unto  the  breach,  dear  friends,  once  more  ; 
Or  close  the  wall  up  with  our  English  dead  ! 

On,  on,  you  noble  English 
Whose  blood  is  fetched  from  fathers  of  war-proof ! 
Fathers  who,  like  so  many  Alexanders, 
Have,  in  these  parts,  from  morn  till  even  fought. 
And  sheathed  their  swords  for  lack  of  argument : 
Dishonour  not  you  mothers  ;  now  attest, 
That  those  whom  you  called  fathers,  did  beget  you  ! 
Be  copy  now  to  men  of  grosser  blood, 
And  teach  them  how  to  war.    And  you,  good  yeomen. 
Whose  limbs  were  made  in  England,  show  us  here 
The  mettle  of  your  pasture  ;  let  us  swear  ^ 
That  you  are  worth  your  breeding ;  Avhicli  I  doubt  not ; 
For  there  is  none  of  you  so  mean  and  base, 
That  hath  no  noble  lustre  in  your  eyes. 
I   see  you  stand  like  greyhounds  in  the  slips, 
Straining  upon  the  start.     The  game's  afoot , 


INFLUENCE   OF   WAR   ON   ENGLISH   NATIONALITY.  405 

In  the  evening  of  the  24th  of  October,  the  English  ^2,*^]^\^- 
pitched  their  tents  near  the  village  of  Agincourt.  Fatigued  ThrCIttie 
were  they,  and  in  no  holiday  trim.  On  that  memorable  cJ^rf  °* 
autumn  night  they  had  to  lay  their  account  with  facing  an 
enemy  numbering  ten  to  one  in  the  morning.  The  moon 
shone  brightly  on  their  tents,  and  on  the  waiTiors'  steel. 
The  French  might  be  heard  giving  themselves  to  revelry,  in 
confidence  of  victory.  The  English  passed  those  hours  in 
rest,  in  thoughtfulness,  or  prayer.  The  position  chosen,  as 
at  Poictiers,  was  one  in  which,  from  the  shelter  on  either 
flank,  the  greater  number  of  the  enemy  could  not  be  used 
to  its  full  advantage.  This  gave  an  unusual  density  to  the 
French  lines,  on  which  the  arrows  of  the  English  told  with 
terrible  effect.  Once  disconcerted,  this  crowding  became 
a  fatal  mischief.  The  English,  having  exhausted  their  ar- 
rows, bore  down  upon  the  enemy  with  sword  and  battle-axe, 
when  they  became  the  pressure  of  order  upon  confusion. 
The  battle  lasted  three  hours.  The  loss  of  the  English  was 
almost  incredibly  small — ^it  is  said  not  to  have  exceeded  a 
hundred  men.  Among  the  slain  of  the  French  were  the 
Constable  of  France,  three  dukes,  one  archbishop,  one  mar- 
shal, thirteen  earls,  ninety-two  barons,  and  fifteen  hundred 
knights,  besides  common  soldiers.  The  captives,  too,  ex 
ceeded  the  number  of  the  captors.'^ 

When  tidings  of  this  victory  reached  England,  the  joy 
of  the  nation  knew  no  bounds.  The  reception  given  to  the 
king  was  that  of  a  people  whose  enthusiastic  admiration 
could  find  no  adequate  expression. 

But  this  victory,  signal  as  it  was,  had  not  sufiiced  to  issue  of 
conquer  France.  Seven  years  later  the  health  of  the  king  rra^y^"" 
failed,  and  his  reign  closed,  leaving  his  crown  to  pass  to  his 
only  child,  then  less  than  a  year  old.  The  war  carried  on 
by  himself  or  by  his  adherents,  in  France,  continued  to  the 
end  of  his  reign  ;  and  subsequently  the  influence  of  Joan  ot 
Arc  imposed  a  powerful  check  on  English  influence  in  that 

Follow  your  spirit,  and  upon  this  charge, 
Cry,  '  God  for  Harry,  England,  and  St.  George.' 
^  ,  .  Henry  V.  act  i.     See  Hall's  Chronicle. 

*  Walsingham,  392.     Elmham,  e.  24-27.     HaU,  Hen.  V.  16.    Titus  Livius, 
12-17.     Hall's  Chronicle.  ' 


406  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^ch5  V'  country.  Henceforth,  the  distractions  in  France,  which  had 
done  so  much  to  favour  the  ambitious  designs  of  the  Eng- 
lish, were  followed  by  distractions  in  England,  which  were 
not  less  favourable  to  the  reactionary  power  of  the  French. 
The  war  of  thirty  years  which  followed  the  death  of  Henry 
Y.  ended  in  the  seizure,  by  the  crown  of  France,  of  the  last 
remnant  of  territory  in  that  country  owing  allegiance  to 
England.  From  the  year  1451  Calais  alone  remains  in 
possession  of  the  English.  Costly  as  these  wars  had  been, 
the  English  bitterly  deplored  this  course  of  events.  They 
did  not  see,  that  all  that  could  be  gained  from  such  posses- 
sions had  been  gained  long  since ;  and  that  the  time  had 
come  in  which  the  true  policy  of  England  would  be  found 
in  seeking  the  development  of  her  own  resources.* 

*  Monstrelet,  iii.  32-40. 


CHAPTEE  11. 


Iia)USTEIAL   LIFE   11^   ENGLAIJ^^D   FKOM   THE   DEATH   OF 
KING   JOHIN"   TO   THE   ACCESSIOlSr   OF    HENRY   IV. 


BOOK  IT. 
Chap.  2. 


WE   have   seen  that  the  wars  of  England  during  this 
period  were  many,  and  often  on  a  large  scale.     The  ThJhid^s- 
expense  of  such  armaments  must  have  been  great ;  and  the  o? Eu?dpe 
productive  power  turned  aside  by  such  means  from  its  bet-  ^aS  upon  ^^ 
ter  uses,  must  also  have  been  of  large  amount.     But  in  such  gpfr"^^^*^'^^ 
portions  of  history  there  is  more  included  than  lies  upon  the 
surface.     It  is  certain  that  a  nation  capable  of  waging  costly 
wars  cannot  be  a  poor  nation.     Where  so  large  an  expendi- 
ture in  that  particular  direction  w^as  possible,  the  industry 
and  skill  in  other  directions  must  have  been  considerable. 
Kings  of  England  who  could  aspire  to  make  themselves 
kings  of  France,  must  have  felt  that  they  were  masters  of 
no  mean  resources.     Prevalent  as  wars  may  have  continued 
to  be  during  the  thirteenth  and  two  following  centuries,  the 
power  of  the  arts  of  peace  gains  greatly  during  this  period 
upon  the  power  of  the  sword.     Commerce  may  be   seen 
rising  fast  towards  the  place  of  influence  which  was  to  be- 
long to  it  in  the  history  of  modern  Europe. 

In  English  history,  the  spirit  of  the  Crusades  may  be 
said  to  have  spent  itself  with  the  reign  of  Pichard  I.  But 
the  impetus  given  by  that  movement  to  naval  and  commer- 
cial enterprise  remained.  Tlie  cities  of  Italy  rose  to  opu- 
lence, in  great  part,  by  means  of  those  memorable  migra- 
tions from  west  to  east :  and  when  that  source  of  profit  liad 
ceased,  the  Italian  republics  were  found  capable,  not  only 
of  sustaining,  but  of  surpassing,  their  former  splendour. 
The  ships  of  Yenice  and  Genoa  continued  to  float  on  all 


408  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

^cha^/^*  Waters,  from  Egypt  to  Iceland.  With  tlie  commercial  cities 
of  Italy  we  must  couple  the  Ilanse  Towns  of  Germany,  the 
great  trading  towns  of  the  Netherlands,  and  the  principal 
seaports  of  Portugal,  Spain,  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Nor- 
way. Commerce  led  to  relations  by  'treaty  between  Eng- 
land and  all  those  countries.* 

Industry  Trade  in  those  days,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  was  sub- 

ph-acyf  ^  ject  to  many  discouragements.  One  of  the  most  formida- 
ble of  these  consisted  in  the  prevalence  of  piracy.  The  gov- 
ernments of  the  period  were  all  more  or  less  irregular  and 
insecure,  especially  in  their  influence  on  the  more  remote 
provinces  nominally  subject  to  their  authority.  But  if 
licence  seemed  to  increase  with  distance  on  the  land,  much 
moi'e  was  it  thus  with  distance  on  the  open  sea.  Trading 
vessels  were  always  armed  vessels — ^were  as  far  as  possible 
vessels  of  war :  and  the  strong  too  often  seized  upon  the 
weak,  even  in  the  time  of  peace,  appropriating  the  ship  and 
the  cargo,  and  despatching  the  crew.  Depredations  of  this 
nature  provoked  reprisals,  and  large  fleets  sometimes  took 
the  quarrels  thus  originated  into  their  own  hands,  without 
consulting  their  respective  governments.  Almost  every 
state  had  at  times  its  complaint  to  make  of  wrong  in  this 
shape,  and  often  only  to  be  reminded  of  similar  outrages  as 
perpetrated  by  its  own  subjects.  The  kings  of  England 
adopted  some  severe  measures  to  repress  these  disorders, 
and  not  wholly  without  eifect. 

The  Navy  This  cvil  rcsultcd  in  part  from  the  fact  that  the  ffovem- 

of  the  Mid-  i       t  i  .  i  t        i 

die  Age,  mcuts  of  Europc  had  no  ships  that  were  properly  their  o^wn. 
The  different  ports  of  England,  especially  the  Cinque  Ports, 
were  bound,  in  return  for  certain  privileges,  to  supply  the 
king,  on  his  summons,  with  a  fixed  number  of  vessels,  or  at 
least  with  a  certain  tonnage  of  shipping.  As  the  arming  of 
ships  consisted  wholly  in  the  personal  arms  of  the  seamen, 
or  of  the  military  embarked  in  them,  this  kind  of  force 
proved  sufiicient  for  its  purpose.  Hence  we  read  of  a 
thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  ships  in  some  of  the  armaments 
of  England  during  this  period.t 

*  Rymer's   Fcedera,   ii.    953;    iii.    107,   482,    665,    647,    1011,    1028;    v. 
569,  703,  719,  734 ;  vii.  747.     Anderson's  History  of  Commerce^  i.  109-301. 
f  Anderson,  i.  147,  164,  177,  201,  202,  207,  210,  220,  240.^ 


INDUSTRIAL   LIFE  IN"  ENGLAND.  409 

Tlie  disagreements  of  England  in  those  days  were  gen-  book  iv. 
erally  with  France  or  Spain,  rarely  with  the  more  commer-  ^^— — 
cial  states  of  Europe.  In  its  hostilities  with  both  those  J^^  e^^S^^ 
powers,  the  superior  skill  and  daring  of  the  English  seamen 
were  generally  manifest.  On  the  morning  of  the  22nd  of 
June  in  1340,  Edward  III.,  at  the  head  of.  a  fleet  of  two 
hundred  and  sixty  ships,  gave  battle  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Sluys  to  a  French  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail.  The  fight  was 
obstinate  on  the  side  of  the  French,  for  they  fought  to  pre- 
vent the  meditated  invasion  of  France.  But  the  better  sea- 
manship, and  the  better  archery,  of  the  English  prevailed, 
aided  as  those  appliances  were  by  the  presence  and  the 
heroic  conduct  of  the  king.  Many  shi23S  were  destroyed, 
two  hundred  were  captured,  and  30,000  men  are  said  to 
have  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  English,  or  in  the 
waves.* 

Ten  years  later,  the  Spaniards  began  to  evince  that  jeal- 
ous and  haughty  bearing  towards  England,  which  was  to 
put  the  firmness  and  courage  of  our  ancestors  to  the  test 
upon  occasion  for  some  three  centuries  to  come.  Stimu- 
lated by  the  French,  the  Spaniards,  in  1350,  sent  out  a  fieet, 
which  captured  or  destroyed  many  ships,  engaged  in  the 
trade  between  England  and  its  possessions  in  France  ;  and 
threatened,  by  royal  proclamation,  to  put  an  end  to  the 
navy  of  England,  and  to  ride  masters  of  the  narrow  seas. 
Edward  resolved  to  intercept  this  lordly  enemy  on  his  way 
from  Flanders,  and  for  this  purpose  put  to  sea  with  a  fleet 
of  fifty  sail,  taking  with  him  his  eldest  son,  the  Black  Prince, 
and  several  of  his  nobles.  The  historians  of  the  time  de- 
scribe the'  Spanish  ships  called  '  Carricks,'  as  so  many  float- 
ing castles  in  comparison  with  the  lighter  craft  manned  by 
the  English.  But  the  Spanish  bowmen  were  no  match  for 
the  English  archers.  Twenty-six  of  those  floating  castles 
were  taken,  several  were  sunk,  and  the  loss  of  life  to  the 
enemy  was  great.  Spain  profited  by  this  sharp  lesson. 
She  bound  herself  to  good  behaviour  for  the  next  twenty 
years,  f 

*  Froissart,  i.  c.  51.  Rymer,  v.  195.  Knyghton,  25,  Y7.  Wals.  148. 
Avesbury,  54-59. 

f  Rymer,  v.  679.     Anderson's  Risi.  Com.  i.'lSl. 


410 


ENGLISH  Am)   NOE^IANS. 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap.  2. 

Impedi- 
ments to 
trade  from 
unwise 
lecislation. 


Prejudice 
airainst  the 
foreign 
merchants. 


But  this  prevalence  of  piracy,  and  this  dependence  of 
governments  on  trading  vessels  for  their  navies,  were  not 
the  only  hindrances  to  commerce  during  the  three  centuries 
which  preceded  the  accession  of  Henry  YII.  Much  of  the 
legislation  of  those  tim-es  in  relation  to  trade  was  not  less 
mischievous.  Edward  II.  attempted  to  fix  the  price  of  pro- 
visions. The  result  was  a  scarcity  which  put  an  end  to  the 
interference.*  Even  Edward  III.,  a  much  wiser  king,  passed 
a  law  which  required  that  no  foreign  merchant  should  be 
a  dealer  in  more  than  one  commodity.  In  this  case  also, 
the  intended  remedy  soon  proved  to  be  more  grievous  than 
the  real  or  supposed  disease.f  It  was  a  law  also  of  this 
period,  perpetuated  through  generations,  that  the  chief  Eng- 
lish commodities,  wool,  woolfells,  leather,  tin,  and  lead,  dis- 
posed of  on  the  Continent,  should  be  sold  at  one  staple  or 
mart.  The  place  of  sale  changed — now  at  Bruges,  now  at 
Brabant,  or  elsewhere — but  it  was  always  one  place.  The 
export  of  such  commodities  by  any  British  subject  in  viola- 
tion of  this  law,  was  made  felony.;}:  'No  Englishman  could 
import  wine  from  Gascony — ^the  trade  was  restricted  to  the 
foreign  merchant.§ 

But  the  English  merchants  looked  with  much  jealousy 
on  all  favours  shown  to  foreigners.  Until  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  every  company  or  guild  of  foreign  mer- 
chants in  England,  was  made  responsible  for  the  debts  and 
crimes  of  its  members.  ||  In  the  reign  of  Henry  lY.  this 
spirit  was  carried  so  far,  that  it  was  enacted  by  parliament, 
that  every  foreign  merchant  should  expend  the  money  re- 
ceived for  goods  imported,  in  goods  to  be  exported ;  that 
imported  goods  should  not  be  exposed  for  sale  more  than 
three  days ;  that  such  goods  should  not  be  sold  by  one 
foreign  merchant  to  another  ;  that  every  such  merchant 
should  have  his  host  assigned  to  him,  and  should  not  reside 
elsewhere ;  and  that  the  penalty  of  forfeiture  should  be  in- 
curred by  any  attempt  to  carry  plate,  bullion,  or  gold,  and 
silver  coin,  out  of  the  kingdom.^"     In  1289  the  city  of  Lon- 


*  Walsing.  lOY. 

±  Ibid.  2'7th  Ed.  III.  c.  3. 

I  Statutes,  2'7th  Ed.  III.  c.  11. 


Statutes,  37th  Ed.  III. 
Ibid.  42nd  Ed.  III.  c.  8. 
f  Ibid.  4th  and  5th  Hen.  IV. 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  411 

don  petitioned  the  king  to  banish  all  foreign  merchants  ;*  book  iv. 

and  in  1379  a  Genoese  who  proposed,  under  sufficient  pro-     

tection,  to  make  the  spices  of  the  East  accessible  to  the 
English  at  a  price  greatly  below  their  usual  cost,  was  assas- 
sinated by  the  traders  of  the  metropolis.  So  the  scheme 
which  was  thought  to  menace  their  profits  was  frustrated.f 

But  the  merchants  of  Genoa,  Venice,  Florence,  Pisa,  Italians  the 

1  -I  ^  1         1  great  car- 

and  Lucca  were  the  traders  through  whom  our  ancestors  ners  be- 

tween  tho 

became  possessed  of  the  natural  and  artificial  products  of  the  East  and 
East.:!:  The  Peruchi,  the  Seali,  the  Friscobaldi,  the  Bal- 
lardi,  the  Peisardi,  and  the  Bardi  are  among  the  names  of 
difi'erent  Italian  companies  or  houses  in  England  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.g  And  it  is  perhaps 
due  to  our  forefathers  to  state,  that  the  extortions,  the 
usuries,  and  the  ostentatious  display  of  wealth  which  charac- 
terized these  Lombards,  as  they  were  called,  seemed  almost 
to  justify  the  feeling  with  which  they  were  regarded.]  The 
German  merchants  of  the  Steelyard  were  a  diiferent  class 
of  men,  and  the  popular  feeling  in  relation  to  them  was 
different. 

Even  these,  however,  became  in  many  places  unpopular,  introdnc- 
in  common  with  strangers  generally,  when  attempts  were  weavers. 
made  by  Edward  III.  to  induce  German  and  Flemish 
weavers  to  settle  in  England.  Some  effort  of  this  sort  was 
made  by  the  Conqueror ;  and  in  the  History  of  the  Excheq- 
uer there  is  'the  record  of  tines  paid  to  William  by  the 
cloth  weavers  for  the  conservation  of  their  privileges.!"  Be- 
fore the  death  of  Henry  I.  this  branch  of  manufacture  had 
made  some  progress,  and  regulations  were  issued  to  deter- 
mine the  measure  of  cloth,  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
should  be  offered  for  sale.  Similar  instructions  were  issued 
under  John  and  Henry  III.     But  from  that  time  to  the  time 

*  Anderson,  i.  131.  The  first  legal  encouragement  given  to  foreign  mer- 
chants (excepting  those  of  the  Steelyard),  dates  from  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
But  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  that  monai-ch  the  Commons  granted  the  king  a 
fiftieth  of  their  movables  on  condition  of  his  compelling  all  '  merchant  strangers' 
to  leave  the  kingdom. — Ibid. 

f  Walsing.  227.  %  Anderson,  i.  131. 

§  Rymer's  Fcedera,  ii.  705  ;  iv.  387.  Madox,  Firma  Burgi,  96,  97,  275. 
Anderson,  i.  141,  142. 

II  Anderson,  Hist.  Com.  i.  137,  167,  181,  189.     M.  Paris,  286. 

\  Madox,  c.  xiii.  §  3. 


412 


ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS 


BOOK  IV.  of  Edward  III.  our  statutes  are  silent  on  the  subiect.     Ed- 
Chap.  2.  1  .  1  1  .  .  .        1  .  . 
ward  issued  a  proclamation  promising  his  protection  to  all 

foreign  weavers  and  fullers  who  should  settle  in  the  country 
The  king's  marriage  with  Ehilippa,  daughter  of  the  earl  of 
Hainault,  may  have  disposed  him. towards  this  exercise  of 
his  patronage,  though  the  folly  of  sending  English  wool  to 
the  Continent,  that  it  might  be  sent  back  again  as  cloth 
was  a  sufficient  inducement.  Many  Walloon  families  set- 
tled in  England.  The  natives,  as  usual,  denounced  the 
strangers  as  intruders  and  monopolists,  and  sometimes  rose 
in  outrage  against  them.  In  1337  several  statutes  were 
enacted  for  their  further  protection.  The  use  of  foreign 
cloth  was  interdicted,  except  to  the  members  of  the  royal 
family.  It  was  made  felony  to  export  wool ;  and  so  rapid 
was  the  advance  of  this  manufacture,  that  before  the  close 
of  this  reign  fulled  woollen  cloths  were  an  article  of  English 
exportation.* 
Merchants  Mention  is  frequently  made  at  this  time  of  the  Merchants 

staple.  ^^  ^YiQ  Staple.  This  was  a  chartered  company,  consisting  at 
first  wholly  of  foreigners.  It  pertained  to  them  to  collect 
all  the  wool,  wool-fells,  leather,  tin,  and  lead  designed  for 
exportation.  These  commodities  they  were  to  deposit  in 
certain  towns  called  '  staple  '  towns,  that  they  might  there 
be  subject  to  the  king's  customs  ;  and  they  were  then  fur- 
ther responsible  for  seeing  these  products  conveyed  safely  to 
Calais,  and  their  v^lue  returned  in  goods,  coin,  or  bullion. 
In  1458,  the  sum  contributed  by  this  company  to  the  excheq- 
uer was  68,000^.  in  the  money  of  that  time.f 
Company  of  The  compaiiy  of  St.  Tliomas  a  Becket  consisted  of  Eng- 
ui^ecS.'^^  lish  merchants  who  possessed  the  privilege  of  exporting 
woollen  cloth,  and  of  course  does  not  date  earlier  than  the 
time  when  the  English  began  to  manufacture  their  wool  for 
themselves.  Tliis  company  at  length  absorbed  the  *  Staple ' 
company,  and  was  itself  ultimately  merged  in  the  great 
company  of  Merchant  Adventurers. :t 

*  Hoveden,  ad  an.  1197.  Rymer's  Feed.  iv.  496  ;  v.  427.  1st  Ed.  III.  c. 
1,  2,  3,  5  ;  50th  Ed.  III.  c.  7 ;  Eden,  c.  i. 

f  Statutes,  27th  Ed.  III.  Anderson,  i.  276.  Statutes,  18th  Hen,  YI.  c. 
25. 

X  Anderson,  i.  233,  260-276. 


INDUSTRIAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  413 

These  companies  were  all  founded,  more  or  less,  on  a  book  iv. 
principle  of  privilege  and  monopoly.     To  expect  that  the  ^^,7^^^ 
political  economists  of  those  days  should  have  seen  this  ^^5*^"^*^' 
princij)le  as  it  is  now  generally  seen,  would  he  to  expect  lovcrn^ 
that  our  remote  ancestors  should  have  learnt  lessons  from  ™®°*- 
their   limited   experience,  which  we  have  ourselves  been 
rather  slow  to  learn  from  experience  of  a  much  larger  de- 
scription.    During  the  period  now  tinder  review,  the  fiscal 
machinery  for  carrying  on  government  after  our  manner 
did  not  exist,  and  could  hardly  have  been  made  to  exist. 
Companies  did,  in  this  respect,  a  great  part  of  the  work  of 
government.    They  superintended  exports  and  imports,  and 
gave  reports  and  results.     The  only  disputes  in  relation  to 
them  were,  not  disputes  in  regard  to  the  principle  of  exclu- 
sion on  which  they  were  based,  but  such  as  consisted  in  the 
complaints  of  natives  against  foreigners,  or  of  one  company 
against  another.     N"or  was  it  the  import  and  export  trade 
only  that  was  subject  to  these  restrictions  ;  the  inland  trade 
fell  in  a  great  degree  under  the  same  kind  of  regulations. 
Our  kings  taxed  these  companies  themselves,  very  much  at 
their  pleasure,  and  taxed  others  by  their  means ;  and  it  is 
not  until  the  age  of  Elizabeth  that  we  find  the  abuses  con- 
nected with  this  usage  so   great   as  to   cause  complaints 
against  '  monopolies  '  to  become  a  popular  cry. 

But  with    all    these  impediments,  and   more,  English  The  Eng- 
industry  became  more    skilful   and  productive,  more  ex-  come  en-  . 
panded  and  organized,  with  every  generation.     In  the  fif-  Sgn^ 
teenth  century,  the  English  merchants  began  to  conduct 
their  own  trafiic  in  their  own  ships  in  the  Mediterranean.* 
In  the  great  fairs  of  the  ^Netherlands  the  English  were  the 
great  traders. f     At  home,  the  merchant  often  rose— as  in 
the  instance  of  a  Canning  in  Bristol,  and  of  many  such  in 
London — to  be  men  of  large  wealth,  vieing  with  the  noble, 
if  not  with  the  princely.     Among  Canning's  ships  was  one 
of  nine  hundred  tons.^     Sebastian  Cabot,  the  real  discov- 
erer of  America,  sailed  from  Bristol.     Besides  their  manu- 
factories, their  warehouses,  and  their  guild-halls  in  this  coun- 

*  Anderson,  i.  223,  296,  301.     Rymer,  xii.  26L 

f  Hakluyt,  197.  |  Anderson,  i.  271. 


414  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^Cn5  2^*  ^^T'  ^^^'  mercliants  had  their  '  factory '  companies  and  estab- 
—  lishments  in  nearly  every  state  of  Europe,  from  Italy  to 
l^orway.*  It  was  this  industry  which  enabled  the  nation 
to  bear  the  cost  of  its  many  wars,  and  the  still  greater  cost 
of  the  relation  in  ijvhich  it  stood  to  the  rapacious  court  of 
Kome.  Tlie  inland  roads  were  few — mostly  for  the  pack- 
horse,  rarely  for  wheels.  Bridges  were  not  numerous,  often 
out  of  repair  ;  and  the  fordable  points  of  rivers  were  so  fre- 
quently impassable,  that  villages  and  towns  grew  up  in 
such  places  to  aiccommodate  detained  travellers.  Hence  the 
many  towns  having  names  ending  with  '  ford.'  The  tolls  on 
roads  and  bridges  were,  at  the  same  time,  considerable,  in 
some  districts  arbitrary  and  oppressive  and  made  sources  of 
feudal  revenue.  Time,  however,  gradually  diminished  these 
inconveniences  and  grievances ;  and  that  English  arm 
which  knew  so  well  how  to  spring  the  bow  or  wield  the 
battle-axe,  achieved  for  itself  conquests  over  difficulties  of 
other  kinds,  on  a  scale  sufficient  to  make  the  England  which 
owned  the  sway  of  the  Tudors  a  far  more  wealthy  inheri 
tance  than  it  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  earlier  Planta 
genets. 

It  was  natural  that  this  progress  in  industry,  ingenuity, 
and  wealth,  through  the  towns  of  England,  should  have 
made  them  centres  of  a  new  feeling  of  independence.    From 
the  towns  this  feeling  passed  into  the  country  at  large, 
impedi-  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  our  knowledge  concerning  the 

agriculture,  agriculturc  of  the  Middle  Age  does  not  keep  pace  with  our 
knowledge  concerning  other  departments  of  its  industry. 
Husbandry  can  be  successful  only  in  proportion  to  the  skiU 
and  capital  expended  upon  it.  But  rude  ages  do  not  supply- 
skill,  and  the  irregularities  of  such  times  are  unfavourable 
to  outlay.  Long  after  the  irruption  of  the  northern  nations 
the  greater  part  of  Europe  remained  uncultivated.  The 
tilled  and  enclosed  lands,  in  most  countres,  were  not  more 
than  a  fraction  of  the  soil  that  might  have  been  brought 
under  such  culture.  To  the  soil  whch  was  left  as  common 
land,  that  must  be  added  which  was  covered  with  forest,  or 
allowed  to  become  mere  moor-land  or  morass.    "Wars,  uncer- 

*  Rymer,  viii,  360,  464,  611 ;  x.  400. 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  IN   ENGLAND.  415 

tainties  of  tenure,  lieavy  manorial  exactions,  and  a  general  ^9^^  ^2' 

prejudice  against  tlie  enclosure  of  waste  lands,  were  all  causes     

tending  to  perpetuate  this  indifferent  state  of  agriculture. 

"We  have  seen  that  at  the  Conquest,  agriculture  in 
this  country  was  accounted  as  in  an  advanced  state,  not  only 
by  the  Normans,  but  by  the  French.  In  comparison  with 
Germany,  and  other  European  states,  its  condition  must 
have  been  still  more  favourable.  But  the  face  of  England, 
even  when  the  earlier  effects  of  the  Conquest  had  subsided, 
and  when  the  new  order  of  things  had  become  compara- 
tively settled,  was  little  like  the  present.  Many  of  the  cas- 
tles of  those  days  still  exist,  more  or  less  in  decay.  But 
the  deep  forests  which  they  overlooked,  or  in  which  they 
were  embosomed,  are  gone.  The  cleared  ground,  here  and 
there,  amidst  the  woodlands,  has  expanded  into  a  wide  and 
fertile  husbandry.  Even  the  bogs  have  become  fruitful 
fields  ;  and  the  rude  cabins  in  which  the  serf  or  the  villein 
housed  their  families,  have  been  displaced  by  the  cheerful 
village  homes,  which  now  rise  up  everywhere,  by  the  side 
of  village  roads  which  seem  to  reach  almost  everywhere. 

If  we  may  credit  Domesday  BooTc,  the  proportion  of 
cultivated  to  uncultivated  ground  in  England  towards  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  century,  was  surprisingly  small.  But 
the  accuracy  of  many  entries  in  that  record  may  be 
doubted  ;  and  the  twenty  years  which  intervened  between 
the  battle  of  Hastings  and  the  taking  of  tliat  survey,  were 
years  of  such  ruinous  disorder,  that  agriculture  must  have 
suffered  greatly.  Before  long,  however,  the  Norman  began 
to  see  that  he  must  cease  to  be  spoliator,  or  cease  to  have 
a  property  in  his  land.  Encouragement,  accordingly,  was 
given,  after  awhile,  to  rural  industry.  One  of  the  earliest 
indications  of  progress  was  seen  in  the  enclosure  of  marsh 
and  waste  lands.  Ground  was  frequently  parcelled  out  on 
certain  conditions  among  the  villagers,  which  they  culti- 
vated, and  which  became  by  degrees  private  property. 
Men  of  some  substance  frequently  purchased  the  right  of 
enclosure.  An  act  of  parliament,  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
III.,  empowered  the  lord  of  the  manor  to  take  this  course 
with  his  waste  lands,  sufficient  pasture  being  left  for  the 


416  ENGLISH   AND   NOEMANS. 

^ci?ip/2^'  common  use  of  tlie  freeliolders.  Tlie  ground  brought  under 
cultivation,  in  different  ways,  increased  so  steadily,  tliat  in 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  century  the  enclosed  land  in 
the  southern  and  eastern  counties  was  nearly  as  extended  as 
at  present.  In  the  west  and  the  north,  much  remained  to 
be  done.  Of  the  proportion  of  arable  land  to  pasture  land 
we  know  little,  as  in  the  reports  concerning  pasture  land 
the  distinction  between  the  enclosed  and  the  unenclosed 
was  not  generally  observed.* 

A  corn-law.  In  1425.  a  law  was  passed  granting  a  general  permission 
to  export  corn,  with  two  restrictions  only — ^it  was  not  to  be 
sent  to  the  country  of  an  enemy  in  time  of  war ;  and  it 
might  be  stayed,  when  the  public  good  seemed  to  require 
it,  by  an  order  from  the  king  in  council.  Some  twenty 
years  later,  the  landholders  began  to  complain  of  the  undue 
importation  of  corn,  alleging  that  it  had  reduced  the  price 
of  that  commodity  so  as  to  have  brought  the  farmer  to  the 
verge  of  ruin.  The  result  was  the  enacting  of  a  corn-law, 
which  provided  '  that  when  the  quarter  of  wheat  did  not 
exceed  the  price  of  6s. 'Sd.,  rye  45.,  and  barley  3s,  no  person 
should  import  any  of  those  kinds  of  grain  upon  forfeiture 
of  the  same.'t 

Increase  of         The  proffrcss  of  tlic  industrial  arts,  bv  addiner  so  much 

free  labour  r      b  ^     i  t        ^ 

to  the  population  and  miportance  of  the  towns,  made  them 
a  refuse  to  multitudes  who  were  not  at  ease  under  the  harsh 
treatment  of  the  baron  or  the  manorial  landlord.     Even  the 

*  From  some  facts  known  to  us,  the  nobles  of  the  Middle  Age  would  seem 
to  have  been  to  a  large  extent  the  cultivators  of  their  own  estates — and  the  land- 
lords in  general  appear  to  have  been  men  of  large  estates.  '  The  extensive 
county  of  Norfolk  had  only  sixty-six  proprietors.  The  owners  of  such  extensive 
possessions  resided  almost  entirely  on  their  estates,  and,  in  most  instances,  kept 
them  in  their  own  hands.  The  elder  Spencer,  in  his  petition  to  Parliament  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  in  which  he  complains  of  the  outrages  committed  on 
his  lands,  reckons  among  his  movable  property,  28,000  sheep,  1000  oxen,  1200 
cows,  500  cart-horses,  2000  hogs,  600  bacons,  80  carcasses  of  beef,  600  sheep  in 
the  larder  (the  three  last  articles  were  probably  salted  provisions),  10  tuns  of 
cyder,  and  arms  for  200  men  :  and  in  the  following  reign,  in  1367,  the  stock  on 
the  land  of  a  great  prelate,  the  bishop  of  Winchester,  appears,  by  an  inquisition 
taken  at  his  death,  to  have  amounted  to  12*7  dralt-horscs,  1556  head  of  black 
cattle,  S876  wethers,  4777  ewes,  3451  lambs.' — Eden's  State  of  the  Poor,  i. 
54.  From  these  facts  it  has  been  reasonably  inferred  that  the  greater  part  of 
Spencer's  estate,  as  well  as  of  the  other  nobility  in  those  times,  was  farmed  by 
the  landlord  himself,  managed  by  his  steward  or  bailiff,  and  cultivated  by  his 
villeins. 

f  Statutes,  4th  Hen.  VI. ;  3rd  Ed.  IV.  Sir  F.  Eden's  State  of  the  Poor, 
c.  i. 


INDUSTRIAL   LIFE   IN   Ei^GLAND.  417 

slave,  as  we  have  seen,  if  lie  could  only  manage  to  retain  book  iv. 

'  '  .  Chap.  2. 

liis  footing  for  a  year  and  a  day  in  a  town,  became  free.     

Additions  were  thus  constantly  made  to  the  constantly 
increasing  numbers  in  such  places  who  would  be  born  free. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  causes  which  had  long  tended  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  comparatively  free  labourers,  and  free 
tenants,  upon  the  soil,  had  therein  increased  the  class  of  per- 
sons who  would  be  sure  to  direct  their  thoughts,  more  or  less, 
towards  town-life,  as  towns  became  distinguished  by  intelli- 
gence, wealth,  and  comfort.  Even  the  abbey  lands,  in  this 
view,  became  a  normal  school  for  citizens.  The  wars,  too,  of 
our  Norman  kings,  especially  those  of  Edward  I.  and  Edward 
III.,  carried  on  as  they  were  in  a  foreign  land,  disturbed 
all  those  feudal  relations  which  had  connected  the  people 
of  England  so  immediately  with  its  soil,  and  brought  about 
a  large  amount  of  virtual  manumission.  Military  life  and 
feudal  serfdom,  or  even  feudal  villeinage,  were  little  com- 
patible. The  service  of  the  soldier,  which  took  him  from  his 
home,  and  often  out  of  the  kingdom,  detached  him  of  neces- 
sity from  predial  servitude  ;  and  the  service  of  the  sailor  was 
always  left,  for  the  same  reason,  to  be  that  of  the  free-man. 
In  the  fourteenth  century  this  constant  drifting  of  the  pop- 
ulation from  the  country  to  the  town,  had  so  diminished 
the  number  of  agricultural  labourers,  that  great  complaint 
arose  on  that  ground ;  and  when,  in  1349,  the  great  pesti- 
lence diminished  the  hands  left  for  such  labour  still  more, 
the  parliament  began  to  take  the  question  of  employer  and 
employed  under  its  consideration,  as  the  great  question  of 
the  time. 

The  course  taken  by  the  parliament  was,  to  fix  the  Parliament 
wages  for  all  kinds  of  husbandry  and  handicraft,  and  to  oTwagel 
make  it  penal  in  any  man  to  refuse  to  do  the  work  required 
from  him  on  the  prescribed  terms.  At  the  same  time,  se- 
vere regulations  were  adopted  against  all  begging  by  able- 
bodied  men.  To  work  for  a  given  wage  or  to  starve,  was 
the  alternative  which  these  laws  were  intended  to  place 
before  every  working  man.  At  first,  wages  were  thus  fixed 
wholly  irrespective  of  the  varying  price  of  commodities. 
But  subsequently,  either  better  knowledge  or  better  feeling 
Vol.  J.— 27 


4:18  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

^cnip.  2^'  disposed  the  legislature  to  amend  its  proceedings  in  this  par- 
ticular.  But  to  the  last,  our  parliaments,  during  this 
period,  never  seemed  to  doubt  that  they  were  more  compe- 
tent to  judge  than  the  parties  themselves,  concerning  what 
the  relation  should  be  between  master  and  man. 

It  was  found,  however,  to  be  more  easy  to  issue  regula- 
tions on  this  subject,  than  to  secure  obedience  to  them.  The 
spirit  of  resistance  appears  to  have  been  general  and  deter- 
mined. Hence,  in  1360,  ten  years  later,  the  Statute  of 
Labourers  enjoined  that  no  labourer  should  quit  his  abode, 
or  absent  himself  from  his  work,  on  pain  of  imprisonment 
fifteen  days,  and  of  having  the  letter  F  fixed  upon  his  fore- 
head with  a  hot  iron.  It  was  further  provided  in  this  stat- 
ute, that  the  town  refusing  to  deliver  up  a  runaway  labour- 
er, should  forfeit  ten  pounds  to  the  king,  and  five  pounds  to 
the  employer.  In  1378  the  commons  repeat  their  lamenta- 
tion over  the  general  disregard  of  this  statute.  Husband- 
men, they  say,  continue  to  fly  to  the  great  towns,  where 
they  become  seamen,  artificers,  and  clerks,  to  the  great 
detriment  of  agriculture.  After  another  ten  years,  we  find 
the  same  assembly  deploring  the  same  evil,  in  the  same 
terms,  and  endeavouring  to  correct  it  by  new  penalties.  So 
far  did  our  parliaments  carry  their  meddling  in  such  things 
in  those  days,  that  they  determined  the  kinds  of  food  the 
labourer  should  eat,  and  the  quality  of  the  cloth  that  he 
should  wear.* 

» These  facts  are  all  significant.  They  not  only  show  us 
what  were  the  notions  of  political  economy  prevalent  with 
our  legislators  in  those  days,  but,  what  is  much  more  mate- 
rial, they  show  us  that  the  great  mass  of  working  men  in 
town  and  country  had  now  become  kHbe  free  men,  claim- 
ing the  right  to  take  their  labour  to  the  market  that  should 

^  be  most  to  their  advantage.    In  this  fact  we  have  a  great 

social  revolution. 

Our  House  of  Commons  does  not  appear  to  advantage 

*  The  Rolls  of  Parliament  contain  much  relating  to  this  subject.  See 
ii.  296,  340  450 ;  i'ii.  46,  49,  158.  Sir  F.  Eden,  On  the  State  of  the  Poor  in 
England^  c.  i.  It  is  evident  that  the  clergy,  to  their  honour,  deemed  the  new- 
laws  concerning  labour  severe,  and  that  the  abbey  lands  became  a  refuge  to 
many  who  had  been  much  oppressed  elsewhere. 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  IN   ENGLAND.  419 

intlieir  manner  of  dealing  with  this  question.    It  should  ^^jf^^/g^- 

have  seen,  that  to  become  a  party  to  such  laws  in  relation  to     

industry,  was  to  become  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  the 
Upper  House.  The  rod  of  feudalism  was  visibly  broken, 
and  these  commoners  belonged  to  the  class  of  men  who  had 
broken  it.  Consistency  required  that  they  should  have 
done  their  best  to  strengthen  the  work  of  their  own  hands. 
But,  in  common  with  many  timid  reformers,  they  appear  to 
have  become  alarmed  at  their  own  success.  It  was  this 
middle-class  caution  which  disposed  them  to  take  the  side 
of  the  barons,  when  they  should  have  taken  the  side  of  their 
dependents. 

Not  that  the  rate  of  wages  in  those  times,  as  compared  ^^^^"^j^  tio 
with  the  price  of  commodities,  was  such  as  to  constitute  a  ^^^^^^^ 
serious  ground  of  complaint.  Indeed,  it  is  hardly  to  be 
doubted  that  the  working  men  of  England  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  were  better  able  to  sustain  a  family  by  their  earn- 
ings than  the  same  class  of  men  among  ourselves.  If  the  most 
competent  judges  are  right,  in  supposing  the  population  of 
England  in  those  times  to  have  been  less  than  three  mil- 
lions, we  have  only  to  remember  the  drain  that  was  made  on 
that  population  by  almost  ceaseless  wars,  and  by  occasional 
pestilence,  to  feel  assured  that  labour  must  then  have  been 
a  commodity  of  high  value.  This  fact  may  suggest  that  the 
condition  of  the  industrious  classes  in  England  under  our 
Norman  kings,  could  hardly  have  been  so  degraded  as  it  is 
sometimes  said  to  have  been,  and  may  suffice  to  explain  how 
the  people  of  this  country  came  to  be  distinguished  by  that 
feeling  of  independence,  and  that  j)assion  for  freedom, 
w^hich  is  so  variously,  and  so  generally,  attributed  to  them 
by  ancient  writers.  In  such  a  state  of  society,  the  servile 
class  w^ould  be  too  valuable  as  property,  not  to  be  on  the 
whole  well  treated,  and  everything  would  naturally  tend 
to  hasten  the  extinction  of  such  service.  One  of  the  most 
cautious  of  our  historians,  after  the  most  careful  investi- 
gation of  the  subject,  supposes  a  penny  in  the  time  of 
Edward  III.  to  have  been  equal  to  two  shillings  of  our 
present  money.*     The  Statute  of  Labourers,  accordingly, 

*  Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  iii.  c.  ix.  p.  2. 


420 


ENGLISH  AND  NOKMANS. 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap.  2. 


Decline  of 
feudalism. 


Industry- 
past  and 
present. 


which,  in  1350,  fixed  three  pence  a  day,  without  food,  for 
a  reaper  in  harvest  time,  determined  that  the  pay  for  such 
service  should  be  in  reality  equal  to  six  shillings  a  day.  At 
Other  times,  the  wages  were  no  doubt  something  lower,  but 
rarely  so  low  as  not  to  leave  the  condition  of  the  husband- 
man one  of  comparative  comfort.  Hence  animal  food  was 
more  or  less  common  on  the  tables  of  working  men,  and  to 
this  cause  Sir  John  Fortescue  attributes  the  strength  and 
courage  which  made  the  English  so  superior  to  the  French. 
In  the  time  of  Henry  YI.  a  penny  was  not  worth  more  than 
sixteen  pence  of  our  money  ;  but  the  wages  of  the  reaper, 
and  of  a  common  workman  employed  in  building,  were  in 
nearly  the  same  proportion  above  the  average  in  the  time 
of  Edward  HI.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  too,  that  in  those 
times,  neither  rich  nor  poor  were  accustomed  to  look  on 
many  of  the  luxuries  or  comforts  familiar  to  ourselves  as  at 
all  necessary.  The  probability  seems  to  be,  that  the  artisan 
and  labouring  classes  under  the  Plantagenets,  were  on  the 
w^hole  better  fed,  better  clothed,  and  better  housed,  than  the 
majority  of  the  same  class  in  our  time.  There  is  much, 
in  the  descriptions  of  the  common  people  of  this  country 
in  our  old  historians  and  poets,  especially  in  the  pages  of 
Chaucer,  to  sustain  this  view.* 

So,  by  slow  degrees,  the  children  of  the  soil  of  England 
rose  in  influence,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  possessing  it. 
The  Saxon  element  again  became  ascendent  in  our  history, 
and  the  feudal  element  declined.  It  was  the  work  of  a 
single  generation  to  give  completeness  to  the  feudal  system 
in  this  country.  It  was  the  w^ork  of  many  generations  so 
far  to  displace  it. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Saxon  and  Danish  periods  in 
English  history  were  in  many  respects  unfavourable  to  the 
progress  of  industrial  art ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the 
times  which  followed,  until  something  more  than  a  century 
has  passed.     But  we  have  now  reached  the  point  when  two 

*  Eden's  State  of  the  Poor^  c.  i.  In  the  fourteenth  century  the  work  of  a 
labourer  could  purcliase  as  much  wheat  in  six  days,  as  would  require  the  work 
of  ten  or  twelve  days  from  the  modern  labourer.  The  relation  between  the  rate 
of  wages  and  the  price  of  meat  was  in  nearly  the  same  proportion.  But  tliis  was 
the  rate  of  harvest  wages,  and  somewhat  above  the  ordinary  payment. — Hallum'a 
Miildle  Agesi^  iii.  453. 


INFLUENCE   OF   WAR   ON  ENGLISH  NATIONALITY.  421 

probabilities  concerning  the  future  of  this  country  become  ^^^ok  iv 

perceptible.     England  now  promises  to  be  a  great  indus-     

trial  power,  and  a  power  of  much  influence  in  Continental 
aifairs.  The  nation  has  become  one,  is  comparatively  free, 
and  the  land  is  covered  with  myriads  of  men  busy  in  con- 
structing ships,  in  creating  towns,  in  rearing  castles  and 
cathedrals,  in  adorning  palaces,  and  bent  on  competing  in 
artistic  skill  with  the  most  favoured  states.  The  ships  of  all 
countries  float  in  the  seaports  of  England ;  and  the  English 
merchant,  visited  by  traders  from  all  lands  in  his  own  mart, 
is  greeted  in  his  turn  in  the  marts  of  distant  nations.  The 
influence  of  this  industrial  power  on  the  intelligence,  the 
liberty,  and  the  religion  of  the  nation  remains  to  be  con- 
sidered ;  while,  in  regard  to  foreign  politics,  the  relations 
which  subsisted  between  our  E^orman  kings  and  France, 
continued  long  enough  to  raise  this  growing  unity  and 
wealth  of  England  into  the  place  of  a  new  power  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe. 


CHAPTEE  III. 


IITTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IIS"   E:S^GLA1^D  EEOM   THE   DEATH  OF 
KmQ   JOHlSr   TO   THE   ACCESSIOIf    OF   HEliTEY   IV. 

^^HE  settlement  of  tlie  English,  language  in  its  substance 
Settlement  "^  as  we  uow  posscss  it,  was  the  work  of  the  thirteenth  and 
English       fourteenth  centuries.    The  writings  of  Chaucer  and  Barbour 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap,  3. 


language. 


show  that  over  nearly  the  whole  of  the  country  which  now 
bears  the  name  of  England,  together  with  the  Lowlands  of 
Scotland,  the  language  spoken  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century  was  in  the  main  the  same,  and,  in  fact, 
the  language  we  now  speak.  Cornwall  had  a  dialect  of  its 
own ;  the  Welshman  spoke  his  "Welsh,  and  the  Highland- 
man  spoke  his  Gaelic;  but  the  speech  of  Britain  every- 
where else  was  the  English  tongue.  Tlie  clerk  might  write 
in  Latin,  and  sometimes  converse  in  it ;  and  nobles,  with 
others  who  aspired  to  be  of  the  upper  class,  might  still  show 
some  fondness  for  the  use  of  a  deteriorated  Norman-French  ; 
but  with  the  nation,  the  English  was  felt  to  be  the  tongue 
of  the  country,  and  was  spoken  of  as  such.  It  was  the 
language  commonly  heard  from  the  lips  of  courtiers  and 
peasants — ^bating,  of  course,  the  difference  which  is  always 
observable  in  the  utterance  of  the  same  tongue  by  classes 
so  much  severed  from  each  other.* 

*  Chaucer  describes  the  Prioress,  in  his  Cantcrhury  Tales,  as  speaking  French 
fluently,  but  adds  that  it  was  French  as  taught  in  the  school  at  '  Stratford  atte 
Bow,'  of  French  as  spoken  in  Paris  she  had  no  knowledge.     '  Let  the  clerkcs,' 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  423 

Tlie  Anglo-Saxon  language,  as  it  obtained  in  this  conn-  ^^^^l^- 
try  before  tlie  Conquest,  began  about  a  century  later  to  give 
place  to  the  language  since  known  as  English.  For  a  con- 
siderable interval  this  change  consisted  much  less  in  the 
adoption  of  anything  new  from  the  French,  than  in  the 
natural  simplification  and  development  of  the  Saxon.  Not- 
withstanding the  disadvantages  of  their  condition,  the  Saxon 
population  grew  in  numbers  and  in  intelligence.  Men 
whose  names  bespoke  their  Saxon  origin,  are  found  among 
dignitaries  in  the  church,  and  among  professors  in  the  uni- 
versities. Tlie  English  language  shared  in  this  improve- 
ment, becoming  more  easy  in  its  structure,  and  possessing 
a  greater  fulness  of  expression.  The  fact  that  the  French 
was  so  long  spoken  side  by  side  with  the  Saxon,  must  have 
made  the  English  familiar  with  many  words  and  forms  of 
speech  which  were  of  French  origin.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  French,  as  the  language  of  conquerors,  possessed 
no  attraction  for  the  conquered.  It  does  not  appear,  accord- 
ingly, that  the  influence  of  the  French  language  upon  the 
English  was  very  perceptible,  until  the  French,  in  its  turn, 
began  to  give  place  to  the  improved  native  dialect.  As 
the  IN'orman  learnt  to  use  the  speech  of  the  Saxon,  the 
Saxon  felt  less  indisposed  to  express  himself  in  terms 
borrowed  from  the  !Norman.  The  result  of  the  admix- 
ture thus  realized  is  seen  in  the  language  of  Chaucer 
and  Wycliffe — the  language  of  the  former  embraces  that 
freer  use  of  terms  from  the  l^orman  common  with  the 
more  educated  classes  ;  that  of  the  latter  consisting  of 
the  more  pure  and  idiomatic  Saxon  prevalent  with  the 
people    at  large.      The  framework    of  the   Anglo-Saxon 

says  Chaucer,  '  endyten  in  Latyn,  for  they  have  the  propertye  in  science  and  the 
knowinge  in  that  facultye,  and  lette  Frenchmen  in  theyr  Frenche  also  endyte 
theyr  queynt  termes,  for  it  is  kyndly  [natural]  to  theyr  mouthes ;  and  let  us 
shewe  our  fantasyes  in  such  wordes  as  we  learneden  of  our  dames  [mother] 
tongue.'  In  1385  a  writer  makes  mention  of  the  teaching  of  English  aa  having 
become  common  in  all  the  schools  of  England,  to  the  neglect  of  French,  and 
comments  on  the  advantage  and  disadvantage  of  the  change. — Trcvisa's  transla- 
tion of  Higden.  See  Tyrwhitt's  Essay  on  the  Language  of  Chaucer.  The 
statute  passed  which  required  the  pleadings  in  the  law  courts  to  be  in  English, 
not  as  hitherto,  in  French,  dates  from  1362.  But  the  language  from  the  throne, 
if  not  the  language  used  in  parliament,  continued  to  be  French  for  some  time 
longer.  This  law,  in  fact,  ordained  that  '  all  schoolmasters  should  teach  their 
scholars  to  construe  m  English,  and  not  in  French,  as  they  had  hitherto  used.' — 
Pari  Hist.  i.  127,  128. 


trical  ro- 
mance. 


424    ■  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

^cn5.¥'  ^'emains  tlirougli  all  changes,  and  all  adopted  words  are 
made  to  conform  to  it.  The  words,  too,  which  are  expres- 
sive of  common  objects,  and  common  relations,  are  nearly 
all  Saxon  to  the  last.  The  new  words  retained,  have  to  do 
mostly  with  the  new  objects,  and  forms  of  life  introduced 
by  the  strangers.  As  before  stated,  the  wars  between 
France  and  England,  during  the  long  reign  of  Edward  III., 
tended  strongly  towards  this  severance  between  the  lan- 
guages of  the  two  nations  thus  opposed  to  each  other,  as 
between  much  beside.  During  the  fifteenth  century,  our 
language  suffers  from  the  pedantic  use  of  Latin  words, 
more  than  from  any  other  cause. 

FrScrLe-  ^^^*  tli6  influence  of  the  French  language  in  this  coun- 
try, was  strengthened  for  a  while  by  the  action  of  the  met- 
rical and  romance  literature  which  became  prevalent.  For 
a  time  this  literature  was  confined  to  the  French  language. 
The  traces  of  Saxon  or  English  verse  from  the  Conquest  to 
the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  are  singularly  few 
and  meagre.  By  the  latter  period,  according  to  the  best 
critics  in  such  matters,  some  of  our  most  popular  inetrical 
romances — such  as  Sir  Tristem,  King  Ilorn^  King  Alex- 
ander ^  and  Ilavelok  the  Dane — began  to  make  their  appear- 
ance. Marie  de  France,  Denys  Pyram,  Grossetete,  Wad- 
ington,  Chardry,  Adam  de  Kos,  and  Helie  of  Winchester, 
are  among  the  writers  born  or  resident,  in  England,  who 
distinguished  themselves  about  this  time  as  the  writers  of 
French  verse.  ^Yhile  the  French  language  was  so  generally 
understood,  from  its  being  to  many  their  native  tongue, 
these  writers  were  all  more  or  less  read.  But  the  time 
was  at  hand  in  which  the  spirit  of  these  performances  was 
to  migrate  from  the  French  language  into  the  English. 

Else  of  me-        It  is  a  commou  remark,  that  poetry,  or  verse,  has  been  the 

trical  com-  •'  . 

earliest  form  of  popular  literature  in  all  nations.  It  was  thus 
assuredly  in  the  history  of  English  literature.  The  Latin 
poetry  or  prose,  which  may  be  said  to  have  preceded  the 
English  metrical  romances,  came  from  ecclesiastics,  and 
was  designed  for  readers  of  that  order.  The  first  use  of  the 
English  language  for  the  purposes  of  an  English  literature, 
was  in  the  ballad,  or  in  the  tale  elaborated  into  verse.     Tlie 


:nglisli. 


INTELLECTtJAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  425 

earliest  of  those  tales  or  liislories  in  English  verse,  which  ®c?5,T 

were  to  be  so  multiplied  in  this  period  of  our  history,  may     

be  dated  from  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century 
During  the  next  century  and  a  half,  there  was  an  extraordi 
nary  supply  of  such  works.     The  pieces  which  have  sur 
vived,  and  which  have  been  printed  witliin  the  last  hun- 
dred years,  form  a  considerable  library.     They  were  to  the 
readers  of  those  times,  what  the  Lady  of  the  Lake,  and 
Marmion  were  among  ourselves  in  the  first  quarter  of  the 
present  century. 

But  the  differences  between  the  modern  poetical  romance 
and  the  ancient,  were  in  many  respects  great.  In  most  • 
cases  the  story  passed  into  English  from  the  French.  This 
was  the  case  even  with  that  large  portion  of  those  tales 
which  were  clearly  not  themselves  of  French  origin.  Italian, 
and  still  more  British,  traditions,  were  made  accessible  to 
the  English  bard  almost  exclusively  through  the  French. 
British  legends  had  found  a  home  in  Wales,  in  Scotland, 
and  in  Brittany,  when  little  or  no  place  was  left  to  them 
in  England.  Creations  of  Italian,  and  even  of  the  Arab 
genius,  would  make  their  way  more  readily  to  the  south  of 
France,  than  directly  to  the  shores  of  Britain.  By  the 
residence  of  the  popes,  during  the  greater  part  of  a  century 
at  Avignon,  France  and  Italy  became  almost  as  one  coun- 
try. Tyrwhitt  doubts  if  there  be  a  single  composition  of 
this  description  in  our  language  before  the  age  of  Chaucer 
which  is  not  a  translation,  or  an  imitation,  of  some  earlier 
composition  in  French.  This  scale  of  borrowing  was  re- 
sorted to  with  the  less  scruple,  inasmuch  as  writers  of  this 
class  rarely  attached  their  names  to  their  performances. 
Their  works  were  produced,  but  by  whom  was  for  the  most 
part  unknown. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  prose  romance  of  ^'j^'Jgt^f 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  is  as  old  as  the  oldest  metrical  ro-  f^f^ftera- 
mance  in  French,  and  that  if  the  English  borrowed,  in  the  *'^^®- 
manner  stated,  in  the  thirteenth  century  from  the  French, 
the  French  had  been  indebted  for  a  large  portion  of  i\\Q 
material  of  their  fictions  to  the  genius  of  the  aborigines  of 
this  island.     The    most    popular    elements   of   this   early 


426  ENGLISH  AND   NOEMANS. 

^ch5.  8^'  ^nglo-!N"orman  literature  were*  manifestly  derived  from  the 

traditions  of  the  Britons.* 

So  general  was  the  disposition  to  read  such  writings  in 
the  fourteenth  centurj,  that  the  romance  in  English  soon 
superseded  the  romance  in  French,  with  every  grade  of 
readers.  The  fifteenth  century — in  nearly  all  respects  an 
interval  of  retrocession — was  less  productive  of  such  works. 
The  prose  romance  had  then  made  its  appearance ;  and  the 
earlier  metrical  compositions  needed  to  be  considerably 
modernized.  "With  the  sixteenth  century  came  -a  further 
change  in  language  ;  and,  above  all,  the  grave  struggle  of 
■  the  Reformation,  which  left  men  as  little  leisure  as  inclina- 
tion to  occupy  themselves  with  Middle- Age  fictions.  During 
more  than  two  centuries  from  that  time,  this  portion  of  our 
literature  appears  to  have  sunk  into  utter  oblivion.  Some 
faint  memory  of  traditions  concerning  Robin  Hood  is  nearly 
all  that  seemed  to  have  survived. 

Character  j^^^  ^^q  reader  must  not  turn  to  these  ancient  narratives 

of  these  mc- 

posftionr'  "^^^^^  ^^^^  modern  ideas  of  metrical  romance.  Ifarmion,  or 
the  Zady  of  the  Ldke^  in  common  with  Ivanhoe  or  126b 
Boy^  is  designed  to  present  a  true  picture  of  the  times  to 
which  the  story  has  relation.  But  in  the  case  of  the  ancient 
romance  writer,  to  realize  pictures  of  that  description 
would  have  required,  not  only  genius,  but  learning,  and 
discrimination,  much  exceeding  anything  generally  pos- 
sessed in  those  days.  "Writers  of  this  class,  as  before  ob- 
served, often  give  you  the  manners  of  their  own  time  in 
times  long  past,  and  of  their  own  lands  in  lands  far  distant. 
Grotesque  are  the  admixtures  of  this  kind  which  sometimes 
make  their  appearance.  The  imagination  dispenses  with  all 
the  limits  imposed  by  history  or  geography.  Scarcely  less 
strange,  in  some  cases,  is  the  fantastic  chivalry  to  which  the 
writer  would  fain  do  homage.  While  in  regard  to  genius, 
a  recurrence  of  the  rhyme  or  metre,  is  often  the  only  sem- 
blance to  poetry  discoverable ;  and  where  the  passion  or 
fancy- rises  higher,  it  is  too  frequently  disfigured  by  conceits 
which  you  are  expected  to  admire  as  great  beauties,  or  with 
pedantries,  which  you  are  expected  to  praise  as  the  evidence 

*  See  pp.  114,  433-437  of  this  volume. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  427 

of   learning.     But    our  pleasures   are   comparative.     The  ^^^^^^ 

tedious  in  these  tales  was  often  relieved  by  more  jjleasant     

matter.  The  writer  not  unfrequentlj  threw  a  hearty  force 
and  directness  into  his  narrative.  As  a  whole,  they  were  a 
marvellous  improvement  on  anything  of  the  kind  that  had 
preceded  them.  Tlie  rhythm  gave  them  the  charm  of  music, 
and  served  to  aid  the  memory  in  retaining  them — especially 
some  of  their  more  popular  and  pleasant  passages.  The 
stories,  from  their  novelty  and  incident,  were  generally  of 
themselves  deeply  interesting  to  the  minds  to  which  they 
were  addressed,  so  that  little  needed  to  be  supplied  by  the 
narrator  to  secure  attention.  To  us,  however,  their  value  is 
purely  historical.  They  reveal  to  us  something  of  the  cul- 
ture and  inner  life  of  our  ancestors.  In  this  view  their 
errors,  rudeness,  and  imperfections,  are  hardly  less  instruc- 
tive than  their  higher  qualities.  "We  judge  of  men  by 
what  is  pleasing  to  them  or  not  pleasing,  and  by  what  they 
do  or  cannot  do.  In  this  view,  the  rudest  products  of  the 
past  furnish  the  materials  of  history  for  the  present.  They 
are  to  us  that  past,  as  living  in  the  work  of  its  own 
thought  and  affection. 

It  would  not  be  just  to  say  we  have  no  poetry  in  the 
English  language  before  Chaucer.  The  rhyming  Chronicles 
of  Robert  of  Gloucester  and  of  Robert  de  Brunne  may  not 
be  described  as  poetry.  But  the  verse  of  Lawrence  Minot 
has  some  of  the  true  inspiration  in  it. 

In  the  Vision  of  Piers  Plowman^  we  find  a  real  paint-  Pier3Pi<m 
ing  of  character  and  manners,  reminding  us  often  of  the 
hand  of  Chaucer  in  th  at  field  of  art.  The  music  of  this  Vision 
comes  in  part  from  rhyme,  and  in  part  from  alliteration — 
from  the  use  of  words  with  the  same  sound  at  the  close,  and 
of  others  with  the  same  letter  at  the  beginning.  The  poem 
bears  evidence  of  being  written  about  the  year  1360  ;  and 
its  author  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  monk  residing  some- 
where near  the  Malvern  Hills.  It  consists  of  more  than 
fourteen  thousand  verses.  These  verses  embrace  twenty 
sections,  and  each  section  appears  to  have  been  designed  to 
present  a  distinct  vision.  The  plan,  however,  is  but  imper- 
fectly preserved.     Its  object  is  to  describe  the  difficulties 


428  ENGLISH   AND  NORMANS. 

^chS  3^'  ^^^^  perils  which  beset  the  true  Christian  pilgrim,  who  is 

bent  on  ending  the    crusade  of    this  life  virtuously  and 

piously — and  the  subject  throughout  is  treated  ^Uegori- 
cally.  The  author  of  Piers  Plowman^  accordingly,  was 
the  John  Bunyan  of  the  fourteenth  century.  But  the  Plow- 
man is  of  a  sharp,  satirical  temperament.  Vice  never 
crosses  his  path  without  falling  under  his  lash,  and  the 
stroke  never  descends  so  hardly  as  when  the  delinquent  is 
found  under  a  religious  garb.  As  depicting  the  great  need 
of  ecclesiastical  reformation,  the  Plowman  has  his  place  by 
the  side  of  Wycliffe.  But,  unlike  WyclifFe,  he  is  content  to 
censure  the  men,  he  spares  the  system.  His  censures,  how- 
ever, are  so  far  unsparing.  Tliis  feature  of  the  work  made 
it  highly  popular  when  it  appeared ;  and  when  printed  by 
our  English  Protestants  in  the  sixteenth  century,  three 
editions  were  sold  in  one  year.  Its  popularity  shows  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  especially  in  reference  to  church  matters. 
That  a  man  of  sagacity  should  have  written  such  a  work,  is 
evidence  that  he  knew  a  freedom  and  boldness  of  thinking 
to  be  abroad  which  seemed  to  warrant  his  so  doing — and 
the  result  assures  us  that  he  was  not  mistaken.  So  the 
Vision  conducts  us  to  reality.  We  have  in  it  both  a  pro- 
duct and  a  reflexion  of  the  times.  Corruptions  of  all  sorts 
were  prevalent.  But  it  is  manifest  that  the  moral  feeling 
which  could  detect  them  as  such,  and  the  power  which 
could  lay  them  bare  effectually,  w^ere  not  wanting.  So 
much  of  the  intellectual  and  the  moral  aspects  of  English 
life  in  the  fourteenth  century  may  we  see  in  this  old  poem.* 

Chaucer.  As  a  Satirist  of  manners,  and  of  the  manners  of  the 

clergy  and  of  the  religious  orders,  Chaucer  is  not  at  all  less 
outspoken  than  Piers  Plowman.  Such  freedom  was  in 
the  spirit  of  the  age.  It  is  in  the  painting  of  character, 
even  to  its  minutest  finish,  that  Chaucer  is  especially  felici- 
tous, and  on  such  paintings  he  has  bestowed  his  chief  labour. 
He  is  eminently  the  poet  of  men  and  manners:  What  may 
be  learnt  from  his  pictures  touching  the  religious  life  of  the 
age,  we  shall  mark  elsewhere.     But  poet  of  manners    as 

*  The  best  edition  of  this  work  is  that  by  Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  published  in 
1842. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  429 

he  is,  the  compass  of  subject  mcluded  in  his  works  is  a  con-  ^^^k:  iv 

Bpicuons  fact  rehating  to  them.     His  characters,  and  his  de-     

scriptions  of  social  life,  include  the  good  and  bad.  Milton 
seems  to  find  it  easy  to  become  either  angei  or  devil,  ac- 
cording to  the  occasion ;  and  Chaucer  appears  to  have  the 
power  of  understanding  the  pleasures  of  the  most  ethereal 
virtue,  and  those  found  in  the  most  free  and  riotous  indul- 
gence of  the  sensuous  passions.  The  comedy  and  tragedy 
of  earth,  the  hell  in  it,  and  the  heaven  above  it,  were  open 
to  him.  Hence,  while  some  of  his  descriptions  are  so  im- 
pure as  not  to  admit  of  being  read  to  the  ear  of  a  second 
person,  others  are  so  elevated  as  to  seem  to  be  addressed  to 
natures  in  a  higher  condition  of  being  than  the  present.  In 
this  respect,  the  compass  of  his  genius  reminds  us  of  Goethe. 
His  universe  embraced  the  real  and  the  ideal — his  poet's 
world,  and  the  world  in  which  he  lived  like  other  ordinary 
mortals.  Some  poets,  indeed,  have  brought  a  richer  inspira- 
tion to  the  lofty  and  unseen,  but  none  have  seized  on  the 
immediate  and  the  actual  in  man  or  in  nature  with  more 
truthfulness,  freshness,  or  completeness.  His  men  and  women 
have  the  fidelity  of  a  photograph,  while  every  shade  is  felt 
as  coming  from  the  hand  of  a  living  artist ;  and  in  regard 
to  nature,  the  blue  sky,  the  fioating  cloud,  the  golden  light, 
the  shady  forest,  the  flowery  plain,  and  the  song  of  birds, 
all  have  their  poetry  for  him.  So,  too,  had  worldly  pomp, 
when  he  thought  of  its  evanescence ;  and  loving  hearts, 
when  he  thought  of  their  tender  sorrows. 

The  plant  flourishes  in  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere 
genial  to  it.  Culture,  even  the  culture  of  genius,  is  to  a 
large  extent  derived.  It  is  the  result  of  the  outward  acting 
on  the  inward.  Men  of  genius  are  as  the  great  mountains 
of  a  land,  piled  up  from  it,  but  still  of  it.  They  do  not 
create  their  age,  they  become  its  highest  embodiment  and 
articulation.  Their  utterances  are  the  utterances  of  what 
multitudes  about  them  think,  but  what  few  or  none  about 
them  know  how  to  express.  What  they  say,  is  what  all 
men  feel  they  would  themselves  have  said.  They  act  upon 
the  time,  but  the  time  has  first  acted  upon  them.  They 
return  to  it  its  own — its  own  with  usury.     Chaucer  was 


430  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^c£S  ^s'  l^^i'^sd  in  literature.     But  his  learned  material  liad  been 

made  accessible  to  him  by  other  hands.     He  discourses  on 

themes  borrowed  from  old  Greece  and  old  Rome,  and  from 
modern  Italy.  Much  of  this  ancient  and  modem  learning 
had  come  to  him  through  France.  But  in  his  day,  what- 
ever was  French  may  be  said  to  have  been  English.  With 
the  l^orman  blood  came  the  things  which  E"orman  taste 
was  disposed  to  patronize.  What  might  otherwise  have 
been  foreign,  became  naturalized.  Then,  in  regard  to  home 
subjects,  with  which  the  genius  of  Chaucer  is  so  much 
occupied,  the  material  of  these  lay  everywhere  about  him. 
His  canvas  is  so  rich,  because  the  real  life  from  which  he 
copied  was  so  opulent.  The.  spirit  of  the  age  was  a  free 
spirit,  such  as  had  not  been  known  since  the  Conquest,  and 
the  result  was  a  development  of  character  in  individuals  and 
classes  on  a  scale  new  in  our  history.  The  charm  of  the 
poet's  pictures  rested  on  their  naturalness,  on  its  being  felt 
that  the  types  had  their  prototypes.  Mine  host  of  the  Tab- 
bard,  and  the  motley  cavalcade  which  he  marshals,  and 
from  whom  he  gets  utterance  in  such  variety,  with  so  much 
skill,  were  all  such  as  would  be  felt  to  be  true  to  the  life  of 
that  time.  Men  remembered  as  they  read  that  they  had 
seen  such  people  before,  and  had  heard  such  talk  before. 
True,  the  selections  are  sagaciously  made.  The  characters 
have  strong  individuality.  But  the  poet  knew  the  observa- 
tion of  the  time  to  be  wakeful,  that  it  was  itself  disposed 
to  make  such  selections,  and  well  prepared  to  appreciate 
them  when  made.  Chaucer,  then,  is  to  us  the  man  of  his 
time,  and  the  study  of  his  works  becomes  a  study  of  his 
time.  The  virtue  and  the  villany,  the  humble  piety,  and 
the  sleek  hypocrisy,  the  strong  sense,  the  sharp  wit,  the  sly 
humour,  the  jubilant  freshness,  the  bounding  frolic,  which 
come  up  before  us  as  we  read  him,  all  were  in  substance 
before  himself  in  the  actual  life  of  that  memorable  four- 
teenth century  in  English  history.  In  his  own  great  field 
of  description,  the  Father  of  English  poetry  is  still  in  pos- 
session of  the  throne.  'No  man  has  surpassed  him  :  and  in 
the  England  he  depicts,  we  see  all  the  high  qualities  in 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  431 

action  to  wliich  the  England  of  the  present  owes  her  great-  book  rv. 
ness.  

It  is  common  to  mention  Gower  with  Chancer,  inasmuch  Gower. 
as  the  two  were  not  only  contemporaries  and  friends,  but 
aspired  to  the  same  honours.  The  '  moral  Gower,'  how- 
ever, as  he  is  called,  is  not  so  much  a  poet  as  a  preacher, 
and  his  sermons  are  often  not  a  little  wearisome.  Episodes 
— disquisitions  rather — on  such  topics  as  theology,  mythol- 
ogy, history,  alchemy,  and  astronomy,  are  too  frequent  in 
his  pages  to  allow  of  their  being  in  any  degree  popular 
among  ourselves,  to  say  nothing  of  the  platitudes  and  de- 
clamations with  which  his  unskilled  and  tedious  allesrories 
are  overlaid.  But  it  is  certain  that  these  compositions  were 
much  read  by  the  upper  classes  in  his  day,  and  the  Confes- 
sio  Amantis^  Gower's  later  and  most  important  work,  was 
written  in  English.  Both  these  facts  are  suggestive.  The 
passion  for  reading,  must  have  been  strong,  which  could 
surmount  such  a  test  of  patience ;  and  a  great  revolution  in 
language  and  literature  must  have  taken  place,  when  a 
man  writes  an  elaborate  poem  at  the  command  of  a  Plan- 
tagenet  king,  to  please  a  Plantagenet  court,  and  writes  it  in 
English.  Considerable  effort  was  made  to  sustain  the  for- 
eign tongue,  as  the  '  birth-tongue '  of  the  country  was  found 
to  be  fast  gaining  upon  it.  When  the  victory  of  Cressy 
was  to  be  celebrated,  strange  to  say,  it  was  in  the  language 
of  the  vanquished,  not  in  that  of  the  victors.  But  in  1346, 
Edward  III.  censured  the  men  who  would  wish  '  to  blot  out 
the  English  tongue  ;'  and  in  1319,  he  appeared  at  a  tourna- 
ment with  an  English  motto  on  his  shield.  John  of  Gaunt 
was  still  more  conspicuous  in  his  patronage  of  the  native 
language :  and  the  insurgents  at  Smithfield  were  charmed 
into  submission  by  it,  as  it  was  addressed  to  them  from  the 
lips  of  the  young  king  Eichard.* 

The  oldest  prose  writer  in  our  language  since  the  Con-  English 
quest  is  Sir  John  Maundeville.     The  voyages  and  travels  Sa^o- 

*  Mr.  Coxe,  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  has  shown  from  the  roll  of  the 
duke  of  Gloucester's  effects  at  Fleshy  in  1397,  how  much  our  nobility  were 
disposed  down  to  that  time  to  bestow  their  patronage  exclusively  on  French 
literature.  In  this  catalogue  there  are  more  than  twenty  romances,  all  of 
which  had  long  been  translated  into  English,  but  the  duke's  copies  are  all  in 
French. 


432  ENGLISH   AND   NOKMANS. 

Boo^  lY.  of  this  worthy  knight  are  full  of  Middle  Age  legends  and 
marvels.  It  is  not  surprising,  accordingly,  that  his  narra- 
tives should  have  been  from  the  first  highly  popular.  Sir 
John  brought  his  thirty-four  years'  travel  to  a  close  in  1356, 
and  he  introduces  himself  as  follows  to  the  readers  of  his 
book.  We  omi^  the  old  spelling,  but  retain  the  exact 
words. 

'  And  for  as  much  as  it  is  long  time  passed  that  there 
^  was  no  general  passage  ne  [nor]  voyage  over  the  sea,  and 
many  men  desire  for  to  hear  speak  of  the  Holy  Land,  and 
han  [have]  thereof  great  solace  and  comfort,  I,  John  Maun- 
deville,  knight,  all  be  it  I  be  not  worthy,  that  was  born  in 
England,  in  the  town  of  St.  Albans,  passed  the  sea  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  1322,  in  the  day  of  St.  Mi- 
chael ;  and  hitherto  have  been  long  time  over  the  sea,  and 
have  seen  and  gone  through  many  divers  lands,  and  many 
provinces,  and  kingdoms,  and  isles,  and  have  passed 
through  Tartary,  Persia,  and  Armenia — the  Little  and  the 
Great ;  through  Libya,  Chaldea,  and  a  great  part  of  Ethio- 
pia ;  through  Amazon,  India,  the  Less  and  the  More,  a 
great  part ;  where  dwell  many  divers  folks,  and  of  divers 
manners  and  laws,  and  of  divers  shapes  of  men.  Of  which 
lands  and  isles  I  shall  speak  more  plainly  hereafter.  And 
I  shall  devise  you  [apprise  you  of]  some  part  of  things  that 
there  be,  when  time  shall  be  after  it  may  best  come  to  my 
mind ;  and  especially  for  them  that  will  [wish]  and  are  in 
purpose  to  visit  the  Holy  City  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  holy 
places  that  are  there  about.  And  I  shall  tell  the  way  that 
they  should  hold  thither.  For  I  have  ofttimes  past  and 
ridden  the  Avay,  Avith  good  company  of  many  lords,  God  be 
thanked.  And  ye  shall  understand  that  I  have  put  this 
book  out  of  Latin  into  French,  and  translated  it  again  out 
of  French  into  English,  that  every  man  of  my  nation  may 
understand  it.' 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  terms  and  construction  of  this 
language  diifer  but  little  from  those  now  in  use  among  us. 
The  prose  of  Wycliffe  is  more  fluent  and  forcible  than  that 
of  his  contemporary  Maundeville  ;  but  it  is  not  in  general 
so  precise  and  accurate.     Sir  John  was  the  man  of  one 


INTELLECTUAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.    '  433 

book,  and  at  his  leisure,  and  might  be  expected  to  be  pains-  book  iv 

taking.     The  reformer  had  a  different  and  a  greater  work     

to  do,  and  less  time  to  bestow  on  the  almost  numberless 
tracts  and  treatises  which  proceeded  from  his  pen.  We 
should  add,  however,  that  his  prose  in  his  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  was  unsurpassed  in  his  time.  In  Chaucer  we 
have  the  real  man  of  letters,  and  we  expect  his  prose  to 
present  the  language  in  that  form  in  its  best  condition. 
The  following  is  the  first  paragraph  from  his  Persones  Tale. 
We  again  omit  the  old  spelling.  '  Our  sweet  Lord  God  of 
Heaven,  that  no  man  will  perish  [wills  no  man  to  perish], 
but  wills  that  we  come  all  to  the  knowledge  of  him,  and  to 
the  blissful  life  that  is  perdurable  announestith  us  by  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  that  saith  in  this  wise — Stand  upon  the 
ways,  and  see  and  axe  of  old  paths,  that  is  to  say,  of  old 
sentence,  which  is  the  good  way,  and  ye  shall  find  refresh- 
ing for  your  souls,  &c.  Many  be  the  ways  spiritual  that 
lead  folk  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  reign  of  glory, 
of  which  ways  there  is  a  full  noble  way  and  convenable 
which  may  not  fail  to  man  nor  to  woman,  that  through  sic 
path  misgone  from  the  right  way  of  Jerusalem  celestial ; 
and  this  way  is  cleped  [called]  penitence.  Of  which  men 
should  gladly  hearken  and  inquire  with  all  here  [their] 
heart,  to  wit,  what  is  penitence,  and  whence  it  is  cleped 
penitence,  and  in  how  many  manners  be  the  actions  or 
workings  of  penitence,  and  how  many  species  be  of  peni- 
tences, and  which  things  appertain  and  behove  to  penitence, 
and  which  things  disturb  penitence.'  Tliis  is  not  an  im- 
provement upon  the  prose  of  Sir  John  IVTaundeville,  scarcely 
upon  that  of  Wycliffe,  in  the  most  hasty  of  his  composi- 
tions. But  we  see  in  it  the  well-head  of  the  great  stream 
now  cherished  as  our  mother  tono^ue. 

Chaucer  left  the  English  language  a  powerful  instru-  occieve  and 
ment.  But  it  was  a  weapon  which  no  poet  for  ruore  than 
a  century  after  him  w^as  competent  to  w^ield.  Scores  of  men 
appeared  during  that  period  who  attempted  verse ;  but  of 
these  Occieve  and  Lydgate  are  the  only  names  that  have 
seemed  to  be  worth  remembrance.  And  even  these  have 
their  place  in  our  literary  histories,  less  from  desert,  than 
Vol,  I.— 28 


434:  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

sooK  IV.  from  its  being  deemed  proper,  where  so  many  are  passed 

by  as  worthless,  to  mention  at  least  one  or  two  as  being  a 

shade  better  than  the  rest. 
rKflu-  In  this  attempt  to  enter  into  the  educated  thought  and 

once  of  art.  feeling  of  our  ancestors  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  the  influence  of  the  fine  arts  in  those  times  should 
not  be  overlooked.  The  life  of  the  Conqueror  was  consumed 
with  care  to  uphold  a  great  military  power,  and  to  secure 
the  estates  and  the  revenue  necessary  to  that  object.  His 
son  Kufus  was  still  less  disposed  to  look  to  art  as  a  source 
of  pleasure.  It  is  with  Henry  I.  that  the  new  movement 
in  this  direction  commences. 
diuSrf '  ^e  ho^YG  seen  that  the  ITormans  had  shown  themselves 
toThe^iariy  g^eat  admircrs  of  architecture  before  their  connexion  with 
Enghsii.  this  country.  But  in  this  respect,  as  in  others,  the  l!^orman 
intellect  had  realized  little  in  ITormandy  compared  with 
what  it  was  to  realize  in  England.  Saxon  architecture  was 
a  rude  imitation  of  the  Roman.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  ]N'orman.  In  little  more  than  a  century  after  the 
Conquest,  the  heavy  ISTorman  arches  and  pillars  were  to  be 
displaced,  in  nearly  all  ecclesiastical  edifices,  by  the  lighter 
and  more  elegant  constructions  now  known  as  the  '  Early 
English.'  The  E"orman  style  was  well  adapted  to  fortifica- 
tions and  castles ;  but  when  the  pointed  Gothic  made  its 
appearance,  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  it 
became  at  once  the  favourite  with  all  Churchmen,  and  in 
those  days  churchmen  were  the  great  architects.  Chiches- 
ter, Hereford  and  Durham,  show  what  the  genius  was,  in 
this  respect,  which  the  JSTormans  brought  with  them  into 
England.  Salisbury,  Canterbury,  and  York,  show  the  more 
refined  conceptions  of  art  which  were  to  become  familiar  to 
them  when  they  had  themselves  become  more  English  than 
l!^orman. 

With  this  advance  of  taste  in  the  general  form  of  such 
buildings,  came  a  corresponding  improvement  in  regard  to 
everything  contributing  towards  the  decoration  of  them. 
Furniture,  sculpture,  painting,  stained  glass,  carved  wood, 
and  monumental  brasses,  all  make  their  appearance  in  a 
higher  style  of  worknmnship.     It  was  in  the  cathedrals  of 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  435 

England,  that  the  general  taste  developed  itself  which  was  ^gJK  ^. 

to  extend  by  degrees  to  the  guild  of  the  merchant,  the  castle     

of  the  baron,  and  the  palace  of  the  king.  Tlie  struggle  be- 
tween the  l^orman  and  the  early  English  styles  of  building 
is  perceptible  to  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century.  But  from 
that  time  the  English  becomes  ascendant.  The  cathedrals 
completed  in  the  time  of  Henry  III.  are  those  of  Carlisle, 
Norwich,  Peterborough,  Rochester,  Winchester,  Canterbury, 
and  York,  and  in  all  these  the  English  taste  is  predominant. 
The  fraternities  of  masons  were  of  eminent  service  in  these 
works,  but  the  zealous  ecclesiastic  was  the  great  patron  of 
such  undertakings,  and  the  gifted  Englishman  was  often  an 
able  coadjutor  in  such  labours.  It  is,  however,  in  the  long 
reigns  of  Henry  III.  and  Edward  III.  that  the  encouragement 
of  genius  in  this  direction  is  most  conspicuous.  Henry  IH. 
knew  little  of  the  science  of  government,  but  he  was  a  muni- 
ficent patron  of  art.  We  still  possess  records  containing 
instructions  given  by  him  to  a  number  of  architects,  sculp- 
tors, painters,  and  goldsmiths,  and  stating  the  sums  paid 
for  their  services.*  It  seems  certain,  that  in  his  time,  our 
painters  painted  in  oil,  but  it  was  no  doubt  left  to  Yan 
Eyck  to  excel  them  greatly  in  the  manner  of  using  that 
substance.  It  is  certain ,  also,  that  their  paintings  embraced 
historical  subjects  ;  of  which  some  judgment  may  be  formed 
from  the  sculpture,  and  illuminated  books  of  the  time,  and 
from  such  specimens  of  painting  thus  ancient  as  may  be 
seen  in  the  Chapterhouse  of  Westminster.  In  several  in- 
stances, the  artists  employed  by  Henry  HI.  were  English- 
men ;  and  critics  in  arts  say  that  there  are  defects  and 
peculiarities  in  the  English  sculpture,  which  often  bespeak 
the  isolation  and  self-culture  of  native  talent.  It  is  this 
native  culture  which  effects  the  transition  from  the  rude 
N'orman  slab  which  covered  the  tomb,  to  the  full  length 
figure  upon  it,  with  its  costume  and  ornaments,  and  pillow 
for  the  resting  of  the  head.  The  tombs  of  kings,  prelates, 
and  Knights  Templars  mark  the  progress  of  such  tastes. 

*  Issties  of  the  Exchequer,  by  F.  Devon,  and  Rotuli  Liter  arum  Clamarum^ 
by  T.  D.  Hardy.  It  would  be  easy  to  fill  many  pages  with  extracts  from  these 
sources  relating  to  this  topic. 


436  ENGLISH   AND   NOEISIANS. 

^ch5  ^s'  ^^  *^^^  architectural  forms  and  ornaments,  in  the  decorated 

windows,  the  carved  oak,  the  wall  and  panel  paintings  and 

in  the  rich  goldsmith-work,  of  those  long-past  days,  we  see 
the  pleasant  conceptions,  the  patient  care,  and  the  realized 
ideas,  which  then  lived  in  the  hearts  of  living  men.  Tlie 
increasing  wealth  of  the  country  under  Edward  III.  tended 
greatly  to  diffuse  such  tastes  ;  and  tended,  we  should  add, 
to  not  a  little  extravagance  among  the  men  and  women  of 
that  generation  in  the  fancy  and  cost  bestowed  by  them  on 
their  tailoring  and  millinery.  Even  parliament  interfered 
to  check  these  follies,  but  with  little  effect.* 
compara-  It  would  bc  a  great  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that 

Mkidi'^  A^  ^^^  homes  of  the  knights  and  barons  of  England  were  gene- 
rally the  seat  of  great  refinement  and  splendour.  '  We  have 
reached,  in  this  age,'  says  Mr.  Hallam,  '  so  high  a  pitch  of 
luxury,  that  we  can  hardly  believe  or  comprehend  the  fru- 
gality of  ancient  times ;  and  have  in  general  formed  mis- 
taken notions  as  to  the  habits  of  expenditure  which  then 
prevailed.  Accustomed  to  jndge  of  feudal  and  chivalrous 
ages  by  works  of  fiction,  or  by  historians  who  embellished 
their  writings  with  accounts  of  occasional  festivals  and 
tournaments,  and  sometimes  inattentive  enough  to  transfer 
the  manners  of  the  seventeenth  to  the  fourteenth  century, 
we  are  not  at  all  aware  of  the  usual  simplicity  with  which 
the  gentry  lived  under  Edward  I.  or  even  Henry  YI.  Tliey 
drank  little  wine ;  they  had  no  foreign  luxuries ;  they  rarely 
,  or  never  kept  male  servants,  except  for  husbandry ;  their 
horses,  as  we  may  guess  by  the  price,  were  indifferent ;  they 
seldom  travelled  beyond  their  county.  And  even  their  hos- 
pitality must  have  been  greatly  limited,  if  the  value  of 
manors  were  really  no  greater  than  w^e  find  in  many  sur- 
veys.'t  We  have  no  doubt,  that  a  public  dinner  given  by 
a  mayor  of  London  or  of  Bristol,  would  have  shown  more 
signs  of  opulence  and  luxury  than  the  proudest  barons  of 
England  had  become  familiar  with  in  their  own  halls. 

*  Taylor's  Fine  Arts  in  Great  Britain,  i.  c.  4,  5,  6.  St.  Stephen's  Chapel, 
■where  until  recently  the  House  of  Commons  assembled,  was  built  by  Edward  III., 
and  beautiful  as  that  edifice  was  both  in  its  architecture  and  sculpture,  the  paint- 
ings with  which  its  walls  were  originally  covered  are  said  to  have  been  in  a  higher 
style  of  taste. — Ibid.  i.  156. 

f  Middle  Ages,  iii.  450. 


INTELLECTUAL   LIFE   IN    ENGLAND.  437 

The  position  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  in  relation  to  the  boo^k  iv. 
intellectual  life  of  this  period  must  have  been  highly  influ-  ThJ^er 
ential.  IN'early  all  the  foundations  for  the  advancement  of  '*^"*^8- 
learning  in  those  places  made  their  appearance  during  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  From  the  almost  in- 
credible number  of  students  which  are  said  to  have  resorted 
to  them,  the  educated  thought  of  the  age  could  not  fail  to 
be  largely  of  their  creation.  But  the  clergy,  and  the  reli- 
gious orders,  were  the  great  teachers,  and  the  history  of  those 
establishments,  in  consequence,  is  associated' with  the  eccle- 
siastical, more  than  with  the  secular  affairs  of  the  time, 
and  will  come  most  naturally  under  consideration  when  we 
attempt  to  estimate  the  religious  life  of  our  ancestors  during 
this,  the  best  portion  of  the  Middle  Age.  The  youth  of  the 
upper  class,  and  in  a  measure  of  the  middle  class,  appear  to 
have  given  some  years  to  the  university  studies  of  those 
days,  embracing,  as  they  did,  literature,  natural  science, 
metaphysics,  and,  above  all,  theology. 

Still,  to  judge  concerning  the  intellectual  life  of  England  ^j^y  ^fg 
in  such  times,  we  must  look  beyond  what  is  to  be  found  in 
colleges,  or  in  books.  Books  are  great  teachers,  but  they 
are  not  the  only  teachers.  Books  and  men  are  ever  acting 
on  each  other,  and  it  is  their  combined  influence  that  makes 
society  what  it  is.  London  has  always  been  a  great  educa- 
tor— not  less  so  than  Oxford.  The  handicrafts,  the  traffic, 
the  adventures  in  distant  lands,  with  which  the  thoughts 
and  passions  of  that  great  metropolis  have  ever  been  inter- 
ested, have  added  much  to  the  stock  of  social?  intelligence, 
doing  largely  and  directly,  what  seats  of  learning  can  do 
only  partially  and  indirectly.  Ingenuity  in  production, 
skill  in  trade,  concern  with  government — with  government 
at  Guildhall  and  government  at  Westminster,  all  have  con- 
tributed to  elevate  the  popular  capacity,  and  to  give  it 
discipline  and  power.  Religion,  too,  has  had  its  office  in 
this  connexion,  as  we  shall  presently  see.  In  the  fourteenth 
century,  Oxford  had  become  a  place  where  a  bold  resistance 
could  be  at  times  presented  to  the  papal  authority,  and  even 
to  royal  authority,  in  favour  of  a  comparative  liberty  of 


438  ENGLISH  AND   NOEMANS. 

BOOK  IV.  thought ;  and  London  had  become  a  place  where  a  puritan 

jealousy  of  ecclesiastical  power,  and  a  puritan  passion  for 

freedom,  seemed  to   prognosticate  revolutions   of  such  a 
nature  as  the  country  had  not  yet  seen. 


■^. 


"•^-r- 


CHAPTER  IV. 

POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAI^D   FEOM   THE   DEATH   OF 
■Kma   JOHN   TO   THE   ACCESSION    OF   HENEY   IV. 


BOOK  IV. 


THE  relation  between  a  prosperous  commerce  and  politi-  chap.  4. 
cal  freedom  is  rather  natural  than  necessary.  Without  on  the  re- 
a  moderate  share  of  security  for  person  and  property,  pro-  tween  co'm- 
ductive  skill  will  do  its  work  but  imperfectly.  But  even  freedom. 
an  arbitrary  government  may  give  sufficient  protection  to 
the  merchant  to  ensure  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and 
with  that  a  high  degree  of  civilization.  Such  a  measure 
of  protection  was  conferred  by  Philip  and  Alexander  ;  by 
Csesar  and  Augustus  ;  by  the  Medici  and  the  Borghesi ;  by 
Eichelieu,  Mazarin,  and  Louis  XIY.  But  the  brilliancy 
of  the  times  with  which  those  names  are  associated  had  no 
relation  to  political  liberty.  In  the  sciences,  in  the  arts, 
in  the  genius  of  every  complexion  in  those  ages,  we  see  the 
splendour,  not  of  the  free,  but  of  the  servile.  It  was  a  gor- 
geous pageant  furnished  by  the  slave  to  his  master.  The 
language  of  some  men  is — give  us  a  flourishing  trade  and 
you  give  us  everything.  But  the  case  is  not  so.  With  that 
gain  there  may  come  the  loss  of  everything  of  real  value — 
the  loss  of  liberty,  and  an  exchange  of  the  virtues  becoming 
the  free,  for  the  vices  natural  to  the  bondsman. 

Happily,  in  Ens^lish  history  the  relation  between  the  The  Great 
PTOwmo;  industry  oi  our  people  and  their  growmsr  ireedom,  after  the 

'        .     iT.'  x-n  ^  A         1      -XT  1-  Conquest 

IS  at  all  times  perceptible.  Even  our  Anglo-JN  orman  kings 
were  not  possessed  of  power  sufficient  to  render  it  safe  that 
they  should  attempt  to  dispense  with  the  aid  of  their  subjects, 
either  in  making  laws  or  in  imposing  taxes.  If  there  were 
some  exceptions  to  this  rule,  they  were  always  exceptions. 


440  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^ci?A^.  4^'  ^^  ^^  *^^^  *'^®^^  Great  Council  consisted  of  the  chief  tenants 

of  the  crown  only — but  in  them  all  the  sub-tenants  were 

supposed  to  be  represented.*  Every  chief  vassal  was  the 
natural  protector  of  his  sub-vassal.  It  was  to  the  interest 
of  the  baron  that  the  tenants  dependent  upon  him  should 
not  be  reached  by  the  authority  of  the  crown  in  any  way  to 
their  injury.  He  too  often  oppressed  them  himself;  but 
it  was  another  matter  when  a  third  party  became  the  delin- 
quent. '  In  like  manner,  the  king,  who  claimed  all  English- 
men as  his  subjects,  became  at  times  jealous  of  the  powers 
assumed  by  the  barons ;  and  the  disagreements  between 
these  rival  authorities,  if  sometimes  a  double  mischief  to  the 
poor  commonalty,  were  more  frequently  an  advantage. 
The  jealousy  of  each  tended  to  keep  both  more  within  the 
limits  of  the  law,  such  as  it  was. 
SSo^of  But  the  representative  principle,  which  had  passed  in  a 

seStatwe "  Hicasure  from  the  Witanagemote  of  the  Saxons  to  the  Great 
principle.  Couucil  of  tlic  ucw  racc  of  kings,  survived,  as  we  hiave  seen 
in  a  preceding  chapter,  still  more  perceptibly  in  the  usages 
of  the  Hundred  courts,  and  of  the  County  courts,  which  had 
been  perpetuated  from  those  times.  In  the  levying  of  im- 
posts and  in  the  administration  of  justice,  the  hundreds  and 
the  counties  were  all  represented  by  their  '  good  men,' 
chosen  for  that  purpose.  It  only  remained  that  the  com- 
moner, who  was  allowed  to  administer  law  in  the  court  of 
the  county,  should  be  allowed  to  be  a  party  to  the  making 
of  law  in  the  high  court  of  parliament ;  and  that  the  man 
who  was  summoned  to  levy  local  taxes  for  local  purposes, 
should  be  summoned  to  levy  national  taxes  for  national  pur- 
poses, and  the  substance  of  our  present  constitution  would 
be  secured,  even  in  those  remote  times.  Wlien  this  natural 
concession  was  made  to  the  commoner,  no  new  principle 

V  *  It  is  clear  that  their  '  Great  Council'  bore  no  resemblance  to  the  parlia- 
ments of  Paris  in  a  later  age,  whose  province  was  simply  to  make  record  of  the 
pleasure  of  the  crown.  The  barons  were  convened,  in  express  terms,  for  con- 
ference and  deliberation  on  public  affairs,  and  they  often  modified  the  proposals 
of  the  sovereign,  when  they  did  not  supersede  or  resist  them — See  Edinburgh 
Review^  xxvi.  351  et  seq.  Allen's  Growth  of  the  Prerogative.  But  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  influence  of  the  '  Great  Council'  is  more  conspicuous  for  a  time 
in  connexion  with  levying  aids,  than  in  regard  to  legislation. — Tlie  Parliaments 
and  Councils  of  England.     (Record  Commission.)    Introd. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAl^D.  441 

was  introduced.    It  was  simply  the  reasonable  expansion  of  ^gj^  iv. 
an  old  one. 

Such  a  change,  however,  was  not  contemplated  by  the  Limited 
authors  of  the  Great  Charter/  Their  great  aim  was  to  pro-  G™a^t 
tect  the  subject  against  the  arbitrariness  and  the  spoliations 
of  the  crown,  by  subjecting  that  power  more  effectually  to 
the  control  of  the  law,  through  the  medium  of  parliament. 
But  the  constitution  of  parliament  remained  substantially 
as  before.  The  only  representation  of  the  commons  was  in 
the  class  above  them — in  the  nobles — and  men  do  not  ap- 
pear to  have  thought  at  that  time  of  representation  on  any 
broader  basis. 

One  circumstance  there  ^^as  which  may  have  tended  for  a  Gentry- 
time  to  preclude  any  such  thoughts.  All  the  subjects  of  topouticai 
the  English  crown  below  the  actual  possessor  of  a  peerage  England, 
were  then  upon  a  level.  The  distinction  between  gentry  and 
commonalty,  which  obtained  so  generally  on  the  Conti- 
nent, was  unknown  in  this  country.  The  less  military  char- 
acter of  the  feudal  system  in  England  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  principal  cause  of  this  difference,  for  it  soon  be- 
came a  custom  of  some  prevalence  among  us  to  pay  a  fixed 
sum  in  lieu  of  military  service.  But  it  followed  from  this 
fact,  that  if  the  principle  of  representation  was  to  be  at  all 
extended,  it  could  not  be  by  an  easy  transition  to  some 
second  privileged  class,  for  that  class  did  not  exist.  The 
only  move  possible  in  favour  of  that  principle,  was  a  move 
in  favour  of  all  freemen,  whether  landholders  or  burgesses, 
rich  or  poor.  But  this  great  democratic  element,  when 
once  taken  up,  so  as  to  get  a  voice  in  our  legislature,  was 
to  contribute  in  an  eminent  degree  to  the  preservation  of 
the  English  constitution  in  its  present  form.* 

Just  half  a  century  intervenes  between  the  first  signing  immediate 
of  the  Great  Charter,  and  the  assembling  of  the  first  Eng-  Great** 
lish  house  of  Commons.     Henry  III.,  who  reigned  through 

*■  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  ii.  476,  In  the  custom  which  grew  up  in  those 
times  of  allowing  lesser  tenants  in  capite  to  attend  pai-liament  along  with  the 
greater,  we  may  discern  a  tendency  towards  the  recognition,  even  in  that  quarter, 
of  a  second  class  of  members  in  the  national  council.  There  is  what  looks  like  a 
sign  of  this  wholesome  innovation  in  the  15th  of  John. — Parliaments  and  Coun- 
cils of  England^  Introd.  xii.     Prynne's  Register. 


442  ENGLISH  AND  NOKMANS. 

^cuip.  4"*  ^^^^^  whole  interval,  was  wanting  in  the  sagacity  and  the 
energy  required  by  his  position.  But  even  his  weakness 
was  favourable  to  the  material  prosperity  of  his  subjects, 
and  to  a  consolidation  of  the  liberties  which  they  had  recently 
acquired.  Tlie  Great  Charter  was  more  than  once  con- 
firmed.* Tlie  practice  of  making  money-grants  in  parlia- 
ment dependent  on  a  redress  of  grievances,  was  made  to  be 
familiar  to  the  mind  of  the  nation  through  that  long  reign. 
Much  was  still  done  contrary  to  law.  But  a  strong  curb 
was  laid  from  time  to  time  on  the  royal  prerogative  by  the 
barons.  Even  the  clergy  became  zealous  to  uphold  the 
Charter,  as  affording  them  their  best  means  of  security 
against  the  rapacity  of  tlie  court  of  Rome  on  the  one  hand, 
and  against  the  unreasonable  demands  of  their  sovereign — 
who  was  generally  the  tool  of  that  court — on  the  other. 
The  king  taxed  his  own  demesne-lands  and  towns  at  pleas- 
ure, but  he  did  not  attempt  to  tax  the  nation,  except  with 
•  the  consent  of  the  men  who  were  accounted  its  representa- 

tives. 

In  fact,  from  this  time,  a  new  feeling  comes  over  the 
mind  of  the  nation  in  regard  to  everything  affecting  its  lib- 
erties. Those  liberties  have  become  greater — more  secure. 
The  Great  Charter  has  become  a  great  landmark.  It  has 
diffused  new  ideas — awakened  a  new  sense  of  right.  The 
sovereign  power  is  henceforth  felt  to  be,  and  is  almost 
everywhere  asserted  to  be,  not  in  the  pei'so'h  who  is  priv- 
ileged to  wear  the  English  crown,  but  in  the  law  which  that 
person  is  bound  to  observe  and  to  administer.  '  The  king,' 
says  Bracton,  the  great  lawyer  of  the  time  of  Ilenry  III., 
'  the  king  must  not  be  subject  to  any  man,  but  to  God  and 
the  law  ;  for  the  law  makes  him  king.  Let  the  king,  there- 
fore, give  to  the  law  what  the  law  gives  to  him,  dominion 
and  power ;  for  there  is  no  king  where  will  and  not  law 
bears  rule.'  f     Even  stronger  passages  than  these  occur  in 

*  'The  Charter  of  John  was,  in  fact,  superseded  by  that  of  the  9th  of  Henry 
III.,  which  has  ever  since  been  recognized  as  the  Great  Charter  of  Liberties.' 
— Pari,  and  Counc.  of  Eng.  Introd.  Barrington,  Observations  on  the  Stat- 
utes. 

f  '  Ipse  autem  rex,  non  debet  esse  sub  homine,  sed  sub  Deo  et  sub  lege,  quia 
lex  facit  regem.  Attribuit  igitur  rex  legi  qua;  lex  attribuit  ei,  videUcet  domina- 
tionem  et  potestatem,  non  est  enim  rex  ubi  dominantur  voluntas  et  non  lex.' — 
Lib.  i.  c.  8 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  443 

tlie  pages  of  this  eminent  authority,  showing  clearly  that  no  ^^S^  ^I' 

doctrine  which  should  place  the  king  above  the  law  was     

accounted  in  that  day  as  endurable.  Speaking  of  the  earls 
and  barons  as  possessing  at  least  a  co-ordinate  authority  with 
the  sovereign,  Bracton  writes,  '  If  the  king  were  without  a 
bridle,  that  is,  the  law,  they  ought  to  put  a  bridle  upon 
him.'  * 

Consonant  with  these  doctrines  were  the  proceedings  in 
parliament  during  this  long  reign.  In  1237,  the  king  stated 
that  the  expenses  attendant  on  his  marriage,  and  on  the 
marriage  of  his  sister  to  the  emperor,  had  exhausted  his 
resources.  The  barons  answered  that  they  had  not  been 
consulted  on  those  matters,  and  on  that  ground  they  did 
not  see  why  the  costs  should  fall  on  them.f  In  1241,  the 
sum  reluctantly  granted,  was  assigned  to  the  care  of  four- 
barons,  that  it  might  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the 
kingdom.  In  1244,  the  barons  refused  to  make  any  grant, 
alleging  the  mal-administration  of  former  grants  as  the 
reason,  and  claiming  to  nominate  the  chief  ministers.:|:  In 
1257,  the  pope  had  seduced  the  weak  monarch  into  the  pro- 
ject of  attempting  to  make  his  second  son,  Edmund,  king  , 
of  Sicily.  The  embarrassments  which  he  thus  brought 
upon  himself  were  overwhelming,  and  called  forth  the  most 
angry  feeling  on  the  part  of  his  subjects.§  Hence  the  civil 
commotion  which  placed  Simon  de  Montfort  at  the  head  of 
the  malcontent  barons ;  and  the  exigency  which  led  that 
nobleman  to  assemble  the  first  English  parliament  including 
representatives  chosen  by  the  commons,  in  addition  to  the 
peers  usually  summoned  by  the  crown. 

The  writs  issued  by  Simon  de  Montfort,  earl  of  Leicester, 

*  Ibid.  lib.  ii.  c.  16. 

f  In  this  parliament,  however,  '  the  earls,  barons,  et  'liberi  homines,'  granted 
'  pro  se  et  suis  vilanis'  a  thirtieth  part  of  their  movables.' — Pari,  and  Councils 
of  England,  Henry  III.  The  above  expression  indicates  the  gradual  elevation  of 
the  class  to  which  the  term  '  villein'  was  still  applied. 

^  The  clergy  and  nobles  deliberated  apart,  but  by  a  joint  committee,  pre- 
sented a  joint  remonstrance,  which  was  ill  received,  and  the  parliament  ad- 
journed. When  reassembled,  three  weeks  later,  the  king  promised  to  ob- 
serve the  liberties  sworn  to  at  his  coronation,  and  money  was  voted.  In  the 
following  autumn  the  parliament  refused  an  aid  against  the  Welsh.  In  1245 
there  is  the  same  recurrence  of  complaints  and  refusal  of  a  supply. — Pari. 
Hist. 

§  Ibid.  i.  15-34. 


444  ENGLISH  AND  NOKMANS. 

^cuii.l^'  convening  this  memorable  parliament,  required  'the  sheriffs 
ThTfii^  to  elect  and  return  two  knights  for  each  county  ;  two  citi- 
commo^ns,  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^^  ^itj  ;  and  two  burgesses  for  each  borough  in 
^^•^-  the  county.'     The  king's  '  Great  Council '  consisted  at  this 

time  of  such  peers  as  were  summoned  to  parliament  by  the 
king's  special  writ,  and  such  of  the  lesser  barons  or  tenants, 
holding  a  certain  amount  of  land  directly  from  the  crown, 
as  chose  to  be  present  in  virtue  of  the  royal  proclamation, 
which  had  given  general  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of 
meeting.  Tiie  knights  of  the  shire  were  chosen  by  the  class 
who  were  known  as  suitors  in  the  county  courts,  that  is,  by 
all  freeholders  there  present,  whether  holding  directly  from 
the  crown,  or  from  some  intermediate  lord,  and  w^hether 
holding  much  land,  or  the  smallest  quantity.  The  statute 
restricting  the  right  of  voting  for  a  representative  in  parlia- 
ment to  holders  in  the  value  of  forty  shillings  and  upw^ards, 
is  not  older  than  the  reign  of  Henry  YI.  The  representa- 
tives of  cities  were  of  course  chosen  by  the  citizens,  and  the 
representatives  of  boroughs  by  the  burgesses.  But  the 
exact  qualifications  of  these  voters  cannot  now  be  deter- 
mined.* On  the  Continent,  the  fact  that  the  municipal 
institutions  introduced  by  the  Eomans  had  survived,  more 
or  less,  through  all  the  subsequent  changes,  greatly  influ- 
enced the  relation  of  these  bodies  to  the  central  authority 
of  the  state.  But  the  usages  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  tything, 
and  of  the  Hundred  court,  exhibit  the  forms  which  the 

*  Edinburgh  Rev.  vol.  xxvi.  341  et  seq.  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  iii.  13-29. 
'  In  cities  and  boroughs  there  was  no  systematic  qualification  established  by  law. 
All  freeholders  probably  had  not,  under  Edward  I.,  the  right  of  electing  repre- 
sentatives in  parliament.  Some  freeholders  certainly  had  such  power ;  and  the 
freeholders  of  cities  and  boroughs  within  the  several  shires,  if  owing  suit  to  the 
county  courts,  may  have  concurred  in  those  elections.  For  the  body  of  the  laity 
in  those  counties  in  which  taxes  were  usually  imposed,  some  freeholders  of  the 
county  elected  representatives  for  the  whole.  For  certain  cities  and  boroughs, 
representatives  were  elected  by  certain  persons,  according  to  their  various  and 
incongruous  consitutions,  reducible  to  no  system,-  and  depending  principally  upon 
custom  and  the  terms  of  charters.  In  some  cases  the  freeholders  in  bui'gage- 
tenure  returned  members ;  in  others,  the  inhabitants  at  large  ;  in  others,  both  ; 
in  others,  all  the  members  of  the  corporation  ;  in  others,  some  only  ;  in  others, 
freeholders  in  burgage  with  other  electors.' — Parliaments  and  Councils  of  Eng- 
land, Introd.  XXV.  This  is  probably  a  true  account,  but  the  editor  of  the  volume 
from  which  the  extract  is  taken,  seems  to  be  too  much  disposed  to  make  things 
of  this  nature  appear  very  unsettled  to  a  late  period  of  our  history.  It  has 
been  justly  said,  that  it  is  well  for  Englishmen  that  the  question  whether  they^ 
are  to  have  liberties  or  not,  is  not  a  question  to  be  decided  by  a  jury  of  anti- 
quaries. 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  445 

principle  of  self-government  assumed  in  this  country,  and  ^^^^^^• 

wbich  prepared  the  way  for  the  influence  of  the  city  and     

the  borough  on  the  cojistitution. 

The  imposts  levied  on  counties  and  on  towns  were  gene- 
rally fixed  in  each  case  as  the  result  of  conferences  with 
smaller  bodies  of  men  acting  as  delegates  for  a  larger  body. 
The  transition,  it  will  be  seen,  was  not  difficult,  from  such 
conferences  in  many  places,  to  a  concentration  of  them  for 
the  common  object  in  one  place.  Indeed,  after  the  acces- 
sion of  Henry  III.  the  assessing  of  the  counties  ceased  to 
devolve  upon  the  judges  on  circuit,  and  passed  into  the 
hands  of  four  knights  freely  chosen  for  that  service  in  the 
county  court.  On  the  authority  of  the  Oxford  parliament 
of  1258,  moreover,  every  county  might  instruct  its  four 
knights  to  inquire  into  grievances,  and  to  submit  the  result 
to  parliament.*  When  Henry  was  about  to  sail  on  his 
expedition  into  Gascony,  he  required  each  county  to  send 
two  discreet  knights  to  meet  him  and  his  parliament  at 
Westminster.  The  business  of  those  two  knights  was  to 
confer  with  the  knights  from  the  other  counties,  as  to  the 
aid  which  should  be  granted  to  the  king.f  In  these  in- 
stances we  see  the  approaches  gradually  made  towards  a 
definite  and  settled  representation  of  the  commons  in  rela- 
tion to  taxation^  which  was  the  next  step  to  such  a  repre- 
sentation for  the  purposes  of  legislation. 

Of  course,  the  progress  of  commerce  and  the  increase  -^^^^^  j^. 
of  towns,  of  which  we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  contributed  f°^Jg®®' 
to  this  result.  John  replenished  his  exchequer  by  adding 
to  the  number  of  towns  which  should  possess  the  privilege 
of  choosing  their  own  magistrates ;  and  in  the  prosperity 
of  these  incipient  hives  of  English  industry  we  may  see  a 
main  cause  of  the  great  political  precedent  supplied  by 

*  The  ordinance  of  this  parliament  was  that,  '  in  every  county,  four  '  discreti 
et  legales  milites'  shall  be  chosen,  who  are  to  enquire  into  grievances,  and  upon 
oath  make  a  report  on  the  same  ;  which  report,  sealed  with  their  own  seal  and 
that  of  the  county,  is  to  be  pei*sonally  delivered  by  the  shcriifs  to  the  parlia- 
ment to  be  holden  at  Westminster.' — Pari,  and  Councils  of  England,  Henry  III. 
1258.  The  barons  in  this  parliament  went  so  far  as  to  require  that  there  should 
be  three  parliaments  in  a  year,  and  chose  twelve  '  honest  men'  to  meet  the  said 
parliaments  on  behalf  of  '  the  community  of  the  land.' — Ibid.  This  was  seven 
years  before  the  convening  of  Leicester's  parliament. 

I  Prynne's  Register. 


446  ENGLISH  AND   NORMANS. 

^cJS/Z'  ^ontfort's  parliament,  and  of  the  influence  of  that  prece- 

dent  on  after  times. 

£cti*on  fof"  Leicester  hoped,  no  doubt,  so  to  strengthen  his  position 
of  lScE  ^J  ^^^^s  expedient  as  to  be  able  to  subdue  the  enemies  op- 
posed to  him.  But  this  supposition  does  not  necessarily 
detract  either  from  his  patriotism  or  from  his  sagacity.  A 
patriot  might  have  deemed  the  thing  done  a  right  thing  to 
do ;  and  a  statesman  might  have  concluded  that  the  right 
time  for  doing  it  had  come.  It  is  certain  that  the  people 
generally  saw  the  proceeding  in  this  light.  Dishonours  and 
spoliations  came  thickly  upon  Leicester  and  his  followers  ; 
but  in  the  esteem  of  the  'baron's  party,'  as  they  were 
called,  that  is,  of  nearly  the  whole  commonalty  of  the  land, 
Montfort  was  not  only  a  patriot,  but  a  saint  and  a  martyr, 
and  Heaven  bore  witness  to  the  justice  of  his  policy  by  the 
miracles  which  took  place  at  his  tomb.  So  men  felt  and 
spoke  through  more  than  one  generation.  The  fact  is  sug- 
gestive. It  shows  that  the  popular  love  of  liberty  was 
taking  a '  more  practical  shape,  as  well  as  a  deeper  root. 
The  people  were  beginning  to  see  where  their  weakness  lay ; 
and  the  memory  of  Leicester  was  the  more  precious  to  them 
because  one  of  his  latest  acts  had  been  to  point  to  the  quar- 
ter to  which  they  should  look  for  strength. 
-hTs^poi-'  ^^  ^^^  ^^*  *^  ^®  expected  that  Edward  I.  who  had  been 

tiJn  Upar-  ^^  ^^^^  agalust  Leiccstcr,  would  be  found  eager  to  act  on 
liament.  g^  precedent  which  owed  its  origin  to  his  authority.  It  is 
not  until  1283,  ten  years  after  his  accession,  that  the  first 
move  in  this  direction  is  made.  In  that  year,  to  obtain  the 
aid  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of  his  war  against  the 
Welsh,  the  king  convened  a  sort  of  parliament,  consisting 
of  the  clergy  and  the  commons  only,  omitting  the  lords. 
Tlie  representatives  of  the  commons  in  this  instance  con- 
sisted of  four  knights  for  each  county,  and  two  represen- 
tatives from  every  city*  borough,  and  market  town.  But 
travelling  in  those  days  being  so  slow  and  difiicult,  the  king- 
dom was  mapped  out  into  three  districts,  and  the  commons 
and  the  clergy  assembled  according  to  the  king's  writ 
in  three  places.  The  first  division  met  in  JS'ortliamp- 
ton,  the   second    in   York,  the   third    in    Durham.     The 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  M7 

king  was   in  Wales ;   but   liis    commissioners  were  pres-  book  rr. 

ent  at  the  opening  of  each  of  these  meetings.     A  certain     

grant  of  money  being  agreed  upon,  the  business  of  these 
conventions  was  at  an  end,  and  clergy  and  commoners 
returned  to  their  homes.  The  barons,  we  may  presume, 
were  mostly  on  military  service  with  the  king.* 

In  a  few  months  the  war  in  Wales  came  to  a  close. 
Edward  summoned  a  parliament  to  meet  at  Shrewsbury ; 
but  not  more  than  twenty  cities  or  towns  were  required  to 
send  representatives  on  that  occasion.  The  writs  in  this 
case  were  sent  to  the  officers  of  the  borough,  not  to  the 
sheriff  of  the  county.  The  lords  sat  in  Shrewsbury ;  the 
commons  and  the  clergy  in  Acton  Burnet.  Tliis  sitting  at 
Acton  Burnet  is  memorable,  inasmuch  as  there  the  English 
House  of  Commons  began  to  concern  itself  with  legislation. 
An  act  was  there  passed  to  give  facility  to  creditors  in 
recovering  their  debts.f 

Five  parliaments,  however,  were  subsequently  convened, 
without  including  any  representation  from  the  commons. 
It  is  not  until  1295  that  the  commons  are  summoned  in  the 
form  which  served  to  fix  the  constitutional  usage  in  relation 
to  them.  On  that  occasion,  writs  were  sent  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty  cities  and  boroughs.  Most  of  these  sent  their 
representatives,  a  few  pleaded  great  poverty  and  begged  to 
be  saved  the  expense.  Twelve  parliaments,  including  such 
representatives  of  town  and  county,  were  convened  during 
this  reign.  The  aids  granted  by  the  commons  were  gene-* 
rally  a  third  more  than  those  granted  by  the  lords — a  fact 
which  indicates  both  the  kind  and  degree  of  social  progress 
which  was  taking  place  at  that  time  in  England.  :|:    In  these 

*  Hody's  Convocations^  3'72-382.  Lingard,  iii,  334.  The  writs  issued  in 
this  instance  were  not  to  the  cities  and  towns  separately,  but  to  the  sheriffs,  who 
were  to  send  men  with  full  power  from  '  every  city,  borough,  and  market 
town.' 

f  Pari.  Hist.  i.  The  act  was  known  as  '  The  Statute  Merchant  for  the  Re- 
covery of  Debts.' — Statutes  at  Large.  Eymer,  i.  247.  The  following  are  the 
twenty  towns  to  which  writs  were  sent : —  Winchester^  JSfewcastle-on-Tyne,  York^ 
Bristol.,  Exeter^  Lincoln,  Canterbury,  Carlisle,  Norwich,  Northampton,  Notting- 
ham, Scarborough,  Grimsby,  Lynn,  Colchester,  Yarmouth,  Hereford,  Chester, 
Shrewsbury,  and  Worcester. — Anderson's  Hist.  Com.  i.  131.  Farl.  and  Councils 
of  England,  Edward  I. 

:}:  jParl.  Hist.  i.  38-56.  Rolls  Pari.  Ed.  I.  Pari.,  and  Councils  of  Eng- 
land, 51-69. 


448  ENGLISH   AKD  NORMANS. 

^cSS.T  liberal  ministrations  to  his  .wants,  Edward  found  reason 
enough  to  reconcile  him  to  this  new  policy.  The  commons,  at 
the  same  time,  were  alive  to  the  advantage  of  being  able  to 
confer  together  about  their  common  grievances,  and  to  com- 
bine in  making  redress  more  or  less  the  condition  of  sup- 
plies. From  the  progress  of  this  new — this  money  power, 
Edward  was  strongly  inclined  to  overlook  the  peculiarities  of 
feudal  tenures,  in  favour  of  the  money  contributions  which 
came  from  all  property  alike. 

Edward's  Had  Edward  I.  been  disposed  towards  a  pacific  and 

embarrass-  .  ,  ^         .ni  -,  \     t  i  ' 

ments  and  ecouomical  policy,  his  sagacity  might  have  enabled  him  to 
measures,  tide  ovcr  the  cvcuts  of  his  reign  without  the  aid  of  parlia- 
ment in  any  other  form  than  had  been  familiar  to  his  pre- 
decessors. But  the  passions  of  the  king,  and  the  necessities 
of  his  exchequer,  were  favourable  to  the  liberties  of  the 
people.  Edward  I.  was  a  prince  of  military  tastes,  resolved 
to  subdue  Wales  and  Scotland,  and  to  make  his  power  felt 
in  connexion  with  his  possessions  on  the  Continent.  But 
such  a  policy  could  not  be  sustained  without  a  well-fur- 
nished exchequer  ;  and  to  secure  that  object,  it  became  ne- 
cessary that  frequent  appeals  should  be  made  to  parliament, 
and,  at  length,  that  parliament  should  be  allowed  to  repre- 
sent the  wealth  of  the  commoner,  no  less  than  that  of  the 
noble.  "We  must  add,  that  the  public  acts  of  this  king  were 
too  often  unscrupulous  and  unjust ;  and  it  was  one  of  the 
subtle  elements  of  his  rule  to  make  his  parliaments  share, 
'as  far  as  possible,  in  the  responsibility  of  such  deeds. 

It  is  not,  however,  until  Edward  has  been  king  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  that  he  convenes  the  parliament  of 
1295,  which  may  be  said  to  present  the  first  duly  recog- 
nized action  of  our  present  constitution,  as  consisting  of 
king,  lords,  and  commons.  The  measures  of  the  king 
during  the  years  which  preceded  this  event  were  often  in  a 
high  degree  arbitrary ;  and  in  subsequent  years  his  policy 
showed  too  great  a  readiness  to  return  to  such  expedients 
for  obtaining  money.  But,  happily,  in  these  later  years, 
the  strong  hand  of  the  sovereign  had  to  compete  with  the 
strong  hand  elsewhere.  Great  was  the  discontent,  both 
in  town  and  country.    By  his  own  authority  the  king  raised 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  449 

the  duties  on  exports,  especially  on  the  two  chief  articles,  ^^ok  ^v. 

wool  and  leather.     In  one  instance,  the  '  Merchants  of  the     

Staple '  were  required  to  lend  the  entire  value  of  the-  wools 
they  were  about  to  export ;  in  another,  the  whole  stock  was 
seized  and  converted  into  money  for  the  king's  use.  In  the 
same  spirit,  the  English  landholders  were  called  upon  to 
furnish  large  supplies  of  cattle,  and  corn,  to  sustain  ^  army 
in  Guienne.  It  is  true,  this  last  demand  was  made  with  the 
promise  of  payment ;  but  the  creditor  in  this  case  was  not 
one  to  be  easily  sued,  and  the  proceeding  was  felt  to  be 
vexatious  and  dangerous.* 

It  was  when  such  measures  had  put  men  upon  those  Resisted  by 

-*■  -^       ,  the  earls  of 

private  conferences  about  their  common  wrongs  which  are  Herej^d 
the  natural  precursors  to  open  resistance,  that  Edward  med-  ^°^'^- 
itated  sailing  with  an  army  to  Flanders,  and  sending 
another  to  Guienne — the  latter  under  the  command  of 
Bohun,  earl  of  Hereford,  and  Bigod,  earl  of  Norfolk.  But 
these  noblemen  were  among  the  chief  malcontents,  though 
the  first  was  constable  of  England,  the  second  lord  mare- 
schal.  Both  declined  the  service  assigned  them,  on  the  plea 
that  they  were  not  bound  to  serve  out  of  the  kingdom,  ex- 
cept with  the  king  in  person.  Edward  grew  angry,  and  in 
the  height  of  his  passion  said  to  Bigod,  '  By  the  Eternal,  sir 
earl,  you  shall  go  or  hang ! '  The  mareschal  instantly  replied, 
'  By  the  Eternal,  sir  king,  I  will  neither  go  nor  hang  ! '  The 
two  earls  immediately  withdrew,  and  are  said  to  have  left 
the  court  at  the  head  of  some  fifteen  hundred  knights.f 

The  aspect  of  afi*airs  which  now  opened,  upon  the  king  The  king 
was  serious.     But  Edward  decided  promptly  on  the  course  thrcm-° 
to  be  taken.     That  he  might  be  in  a  condition  to  humble  ^^°^ 
the  constable  and  the  mareschal,  great  effort  was  made  to 
conciliate  parties  to  whom  he  had  often  given  deep  um-        ^ 
brage  by  his  arbitrary  appropriations  of  their  substance. 
The  clergy  had  suffered  often  and  grievously  at  his  hands ; 
but  to  clergy,  to  merchants,  and  to  all  parties  aggrieved, 
his  professions  were  now  those  of  sorrow  that  his  necessities 
should  have  been  such  as  to  have  compelled  him  to  resort 

*  Heming.  110,  111.     Kniglit.  2501.     Walsing.  69     Dunstap.  v.  418. 
f  Heming.  112. 

Vol.  I.— 29 


450  ENGLISH   AND   NOEMANS. 

^HA?4^'  *^  measures  which  could  hardly  have  been  so  painful  to 

others  as  they  were  to  himself.     His  faults  in  this  respect, 

he  acknowledged,  had  been  manifold,  but  they  might  be 
sure  there  would  be  no  return  of  them.  It  was  to  this 
effect  that  the  king  addressed  a  large  assembly  of  citizens 
from  a  platform  in  the  front  of  Westminster  Hall.  At  his 
side,  stgod  the  young  prince,  whom,  as  the  heir  apparent, 
he  commended  to  their  loyal  protection,  should  it  be  the 
will  of  Providence  to  number  himself  with  the  slain  in  the 
intended  expedition.  At  this  point  the  speaker  burst  into 
tears  ;  all  were  moved  ;  and  the  faults  of  the  king  seemed 
for  the  moment  to  have  been  wholly  forgotten  by  his  sub- 
jects in  their  sympathy  with  the  father  and  the  man.  Ed- 
ward accepted  their  loud  acclamations  as  the  pledge  of 
reconciliation.* 

The  king  now  ventured  to  set  sail  for  Flanders.  But 
he  did  so  with  some  misgiving.  Some  of  the  most  power- 
ful among  his  subjects  addressed  to  him  a  formal  remon- 
strance, and  did  not  hesitate  to  describe  the  enterprise  as 
unnecessary,  improvident,  and  hazardous  to  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  realm. 

The  Lon-  Qu  the  third  day  after  Edward's  departure  the  earls  of 

doners  side  «^  J- 

w^^j^*^e  Hereford  and  ISTorfolk  presented  themselves  before  the 
barons  of  the  exchequer,  to  whom  they  stated  in  detail  the 
grievances  which  the  nation  had  suffered  from  the  hands  of 
the  king,  and  forbade  them  in  the  name  of  the  barons  of 
England,  to  attempt  to  collect  the  eighth  granted  in  the  last 
parliament,  the  said  grant  having  been  made  without  the 
knowledge  of  themselves  and  their  friends,  who  should 
have  been  privy  to  it.  From  the  Exchequer  the  earls  rode 
to  the  Guildhall,  where  the  citizens,  notwithstanding  the 
scene  so  recently  witnessed  in  "Westminster,  gave  the  mal- 
content chiefs  an  enthusiastic  reception.  All  were  agreed 
in  regarding  the  grievances  of  the  nation  as  enomious,  and 
in  the  necessity  of  imposing  some  powerful  restraint  on  the 

*  Rymer,  ii.  783.  Matt.  West,  ad  ann.  129Y.  The  following  are  the  king's 
words  as  given  by  Westminster :  '  Behold !  I,  who  being  about  to  expose 
myself  to  danger  for  your  sakes,  do  beg  of  you,  if  I  return,  to  receive  me 
as  you  now  receive  me,  and  I  will  restore  to  you  all  that  I  have  taken  from 
you.  And  if  I  do  not  return,  then  I  beg  of  you  to  crown  my  son  as  your 
king:.' 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  451 

despotic  tendencies  of  tlic  crown.     The  military  array  of  book  iv 

the  earls  in  these  proceedings  was  great ;  but  the  public     

peace  was  not  broken.  The  men  in  mail,  and  the  men  of 
traffic  and  handicraft,  feudality  and  citizenship,  were  at  one 
on  that  day.^^" 

Edward  was  soon  apprised  of  these  proceedings.  But  parUament 
his  commands  to  his  ministers  not  to  heed  the  prohibitions  sSte  m 
of  the  constable  and  mareschal  were  without  eflfect.  The  rwn  cJnee- 
discontent  expressed  by  those  noblemen  was  the  feeling 
common  to  all  classes,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest. 
The  course  of  the  war,  moreover,  was  not  favourable. 
The  king  of  France  was  at  the  head  of  a  force  which  Edward 
dared  not  encounter ;  nor  could  he  retreat  with  honour  from 
the  position  he  had  taken.  In  this  exigency,  the  council, 
to  whose  care  the  kingdom  had  been  committed,  summoned 
the  earls  of  Hereford  and  IS'orfolk,  and  a  number  of  prelates 
and  barons,  to  a  conference ;  this  conference  was  prelimi- 
nary to  a  parliament ;  and  by  this  parliament  the  following 
important  provisions  submitted  by  the  conference,  were 
enthusiastically  adopted  as  additions  to  the  Magna  Charta, 
and  the  Charter  of  the  Forests. 

'  'No  manner  of  tax  or  aid  shall  either  be  imposed  or 
gathered  by  us  or  our  heirs,  for  the  future,  in  our  kingdom, 
without  the  common  consent  and  free  will  of  the  arch- 
bishops, bishops,  and  other  prelates,  the  earls,  barons, 
knights,  burgesses,  and  other  freemen  of  this  realm.  We 
will  not  take  to  ourself  any  corn,  wool,  hides,  or  any  other 
kind  of  goods  whatsoever,  without  the  consent  of  the  person 
to  whom  such  goods  belong.  We  will  not  take  for  the 
future  in  any  name,  or  on  any  occasion  whatsoever,  evil 
toll  ^  on  any  pack  of  wool.  We  will  and  grant,  for  us  and 
our  heirs,  that  all  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  kingdom  shall 
have  all  their  laws,  liberties,  and  customs  as  freely  and 
fully  as  they  ever  enjoyed  them  at  any  time.  And  if  any- 
thing be  enacted  or  ordained  against  any  article  in  this 
present  writing  by  us  or  our  ancestors,  or  by  any  new  cus- 

*  Wals.  12.    Knighton,  2512.     Heming.  IIY.     Westmin.  ad  ann.  129Y. 
I  A  tax  of  40s.  on  every  pack  of  wool  exported. 


452  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^cSS  V'  *^^^  introduced,  we  will  and  grant  that  such  customs  or 
statutes  be  for  ever  null  and  void.  ' 

'  We  do  remit  also  to  Humphry  de  Bohun,  earl  of  Here- 
ford and  Essex,  constable  of  England ;  Koger  Bigod,  earl 
of  Norfolk,  mareschal  of  England,  and  other,  the  earls, 
barons,  knights,  esquires,  and  to  John  de  Ferrars,  and  to 
all  others  his  colleagues  and  confederates,  and  also  to  all 
those  who  hold  201.  lands,  either  of  us  in  chief  or  of  others 
in  our  kingdom,  who  were  summoned  to  go  into  Flanders 
and  did  not  appear,  all  manner  of  rancour  and  ill-will  which 
for  the  aforesaid  causes  we  might  have  taken  against  them  ; 
and  also  all  kinds  of  transgressions  which  to  us  or  ours  may 
have  been  done,  to  the  making  of  this  present  writing. 

'  And  for  the  greater  security  of  this  matter,  we  will  and 
grant,  for  us  and  our  heirs,  that  all  archbishops  and  bishops 
of  England  shall  for  ever  in  their  cathedral  churches  have 
the  present  writing  read,  and  shall  publicly  excommunicate 
there,  as  well  as  cause  to  be  excommunicated  in  the  several 
parish  churches  throughout  their  diocese,  twice  in  a  year, 
all  those  who  shall  seek  to  weaken  the  force  of  these  pres- 
ents in  any  manner  whatsoever.  In  testimony  of  which  we 
have  put  our  seal  to  this  present  writing,  together  with  the 
seals  of  the  archbishops,  bishops,  earls,  barons,  and  others, 
who  of  their  own  accord  swore  to  observe  strictly  the 
tenor  of  these  presents,  in  all  and  every  article,  to  the  best 
of  their  power.  And  for  the  due  observance  of  which  they 
promised  all  their  aid  and  advice  for  ever.'  * 

Such  is  the  memorable  statute  J)e  Tallagio  non  Con- 
cedendo.  Its  great  aim,  as  will  be  seen,  was  to  give  a  fuller 
security  to  the  property  of  the  subject.  It  made  the  king 
dependent  for  every  branch  of  revenue,  apart  from  the 
rents  of  the  royal  demesne,  on  the  suffrage  of  parliament 
— and  of  a  parliament  consisting  of  the  baronage  of  Eng- 
land, and  of  representatives  from  the  commons  in  county, 
city,  and  borough. 

Deep  was  the  reluctance  of  the  king  to  attach  his  signa- 
ture to  this  instrument.  But  his  embarrassments  in  the 
^Netherlands  were  watched  by  the  Scots,  who  seized  the 

*  Pari.  Hist.  i.  46,  46. 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  453 

moment,  after  their  manner,  to  make  incursions  into  the  book  iv. 

'  ,  .  CuAP.  4. 

northern  counties.     The  prince  and  his  council,  moreover,     

had  been  parties  to  the  framing  of  this  instrument,  and 
joined  in  urging  the  king  to  accept  it.  In  that  event,  the 
clergy  and  laity  were  prepared  to  vote  large  supplies  ;  and 
the  barons  and  their  followers  were  ready,  either  to  join 
the  king  in  Flanders,  or  to  compel  the  Scots  to  find  other 
employment.  But  an  answer  was  required,  in  decisive  terms, 
by  a  giv^n  day.  By  that  day,  after  a  costly  struggle, 
Edward  attached  his  name  and  seal  to  the  docu- 
ment.* 

The  value  of  this  statute  must  not  be  viewed  as  Edward's 
relating  simply  to  the  greater  security  of  property.  To  ev'^eit 
restrict  the  power  of  the  crown  in  that  direction,  was  to 
restrict  it  in  every  other.  Parliament,  in  becoming  the 
guardian  of  the  public  purse,  became  the  guardian  of  the 
public  liberty.  To  control  the  exchequer,  was  to  have  control 
over  the  sinews  both  of  war  and  government.  To  the  king 
this  was  sufficiently  clear  ;  and  his  majesty  gave  abundant 
evidence  afterwards  of  an  intention  to  undo  if  possible  all 
that  had  been  done.  First,  it  was  rumoured  that  the  king 
spoke  of  his  oath  as  invalid,  from  its  being  exacted  from 
him  in  a  foreign  land,  where  he  had  no  authority,  and  was 
not  in  possession  of  his  full  liberty  of  action.  'Next,  a  suc- 
cession of  attempts  was  made  to  evade  the  confirmation  of 
the  statute  after  his  return  to  this  country.  When  all  these 
expedients  had  failed,  and  the  statute  was  at  length  con- 
firmed as  it  stood,  it  was  with  the  addition  of  a  clause  touch- 
ing the  supposed  rights  of  the  crown,  which  virtually  an- 
nulled all  that  the  document  had  been  designed  to  secure  as 
right  to  the  subject.  The  earls  of  Hereford  and  ]^orfolk 
and  their  adherents,  expressed  their  amazement  and  indig- 
nation, and  withdrew  from  court  and  parliament. 

Edward  flattered  himself  that  the  citizens  of  London  The  Lon- 
would  not  be  found  so  clear-sighted  in  these  matters  as  the  sSIS^^' 
barons.     The  sherifi's  were  instructed  to  coilvene  the  Lon-  ^  *^^' 
doners  in  the  crypt  of  St.  Paul's,  and  there  to  read  the 

*  Matt.  West,  ad  ann.  1297.     Heming.  138  et  seq.     Knight.  2522.  Walsing. 
73,  74.     Pari.  Hist.  i.  46. 


454  ENGLISH  AND  NOKMANS. 

^ch5.  4^'  statute  in  their  hearing.  As  passage  after  passage  was  read, 
the  crypt  resounded  with  applause.  But  when  the  clause 
at  the  end  came,  the  scene  at  once  changed.  The  attempted 
fraud  was  seen  at  a  glance,  and  the  expressions  of  disap- 
probation were  as  loud  as  the  expressions  of  approval  had 

The  statute  been  before.     Edward's  last  move  had  thus  failed.     He  im- 

b«!comes  t    ,    i  t  -,.  .  ^  >   i    -i  > 

law.  mediately  convened  a  new  parliament,  m  which  his  assent 

was  given  to  the  statute  without  reservation.^ 
^recSftions         "^^^^  GYGTi  yet,  there  was  duplicity  somewhere.  ■  The  gov- 
to  secure  it.  emmeut  officials  knew  the  law,  but,  from  some  cause,  pre- 
sumed to  ignore  it.     They  acted  in  many  cases  as  in  former 
times.     Complaints  on  this  ground  in  the  next  parliament 
were  bitter.     To  silence  them,  the  king  consented,  not  only 
to  renew  his  pledge  to  abide  by  the  provisions  of  the  new 
statute,  but,  to  ensure  its  better  observance,  agreed  that  it 
should  be  publicly  read,  together  with  Magna  Charta  and 
the  Forest  Charter,  in  the  sheriif's  court,  four  times  in  the 
year,  and  that  three  knights  in  each  county,  to  be  chosen 
by  the  freeholders,  should  be  commissioned  to  punish  all 
persons  convicted  of   violating  the    said  premises  in  any 
way.f 
Silngf  and        ^^^^  the  prcscut  the  king  deemed  it  prudent  to  dissem- 
p^irfidy.       1^1^^     -g^^  -j^.g  p^^j.p()gQ  iq  make  the  parties  who  had  so  far 

prevailed  against  him  feel  the  effects  of  his  displeasure  was 
never  relinquished.  Three  years  later  the  Scots  were  sub- 
dued, his  affairs  generally  became  more  prosperous,  and  the 
moment  seemed  to  have  come  in  which  to  put  forth  his 
hand  as  an  avenger.  The  earl  of  Hereford  was  dead ;  but 
his  son  was  summoned  to  resign  his  estates  into  the  hands 
of  the  king  ;  and  though  they  were  restored,  it  was  on  such 
conditions,  that  they  soon  afterwards  fell  to  the  crown. 
Bohun,  the  lord  mareschal,  was  humbled  and  wronged  in  a 
similar  manner,  together  with  Winch elsey,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  many  more,  who  were  charged  with  having 
been  parties  to  the  alleged  conspiracy  against  the  king 
while  absent  in  FLanders.:!:     All  this  was  done  in  unblush- 

*  Heming.  109-168.     Wals.  1Q.     West,  acl  ann.  1298. 

•)•  Stat.  28  Ed.  I.  3. 

^  Brady's  Complete  Hist.  iii.  lA-^6.    West,  ad  ann.  1305. 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  455 

ing  violation  of  an  oath,  solemnly  taken,  and  often  re-  book  ry-. 
peated.* 

It  is  now  known,  that  in  1304,  Edward  opened  a  corre-  ^j^^J 
spondcnce  with  the  pope  to  obtain  a  formal  dispensation  ^Xby^the 
from  the  pledges  by  which  he  had  bound  himself;  and  that  p^p"- 
the  dispensation  was  granted,  though,  from  causes  which 
can  now  be  only  matter  of  conjecture,  the  instrument  was 
never  made  public. f 

Another  measure,  which  dates  from  the  kind's  success  in  infraction 

^  ,  ^  of  the 

Scotland  in  the  same  year,  was  his  levying  a  tallage  on  all  statute, 
his  demesne  lands  and  towns  without  consent  of  parliament, 
as  though  the  De  Tallagio  non  Concedendo  were  not  in 
existence.  His  manner  of  silencing  the  complaints  of  the 
barons,  in  the  next  parliament,  was  by  telling  them  that 
they  were  free  to  levy  a  similar  tax  on  the  lands  and  towns 
subject  to  themselves.  Of  such  a  complexion  was  the 
patriotism  of  Edward  I. — ^better  his  barons  should  be  left  to 
plunder  at  will,  than  that  he  should  not  himself  be  allowed 
that  liberty. 

But  Edward  I.  died,  and  the  law  which  declared  that  political 
the  nation  should  be  in  no  way  taxed  without  its  consent,  a  iLnd  under 
law  given  in  a  free  parliament,  remained  on  the  statute 
book.J  On  the  death  of  this  king,  nearly  a  century  had 
passed  since  the  germ  of  this  law  found  its  place  for  the  first 
time  in  our  history,  as  one 'of  the  provisions  of  Magna 
Charta.  But  we  may  say  that  two  great  principles — taxa- 
tion solely  by  authority  of  j)arliament,  and  the  representa- 
tion of  the  commons  as  essential  to  the  constitution  of  a  par- 
liament, were  recognized  for  all  time  -to  come  in  the  reign 
of  the  first  Edward.  English  liberty,  indeed,  was  nothing 
to  that  monarch.  He  ceded  no  vestige  of  it  willingly.  He 
w^ould  have  crushed  it  in  all  its  tendencies,  had  he  been 
permitted.     But  the  course  of  events  in  England  had  long 

*  Westminster  recounts  these  proceedings  as  bespeaking  clemency,  seeing 
nothing  of  the  perfidy  !  Archbishop  Winchelsey  appears  to  have  given  special 
umbrage  to  the  king.  '  I  know  the  pride  of  thy  heart,'  said  Edward,  '  thy 
rebellion  and  cunning ;  for  thou  hast  always  acted  contentiously  towards 
me.'  But  Dr.  Lingard  is  right  in  saying,  that  Englishmen  owe  hardly  less 
to  archbishop  Winchelsey,  and  to  the  earls  of  Hereford  and  Norfolk,  than 
to   archbishop  Langton   and  the  barons  at   Runnymead. — Hist.  iii.  353  et  seq. 

f  Rymer,  ii.  972-978.  %  Stat.  34  Ed.  I.  5. 


456  ENGLISH  AND   NORMANS. 

^chS  4^'  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^s  *^  train  the  people  in  political  knowledge ; 

— —     and  tlie  two  principles  above  mentioned,  w^liich  the  policy 

of  this  king  had  tended  to  make  so  precions,  may  be  said  to 

have  embodied  two  of  the  weighty  lessons  which  the  nation 

had  now  thoronghly  learnt. 

With  these  new  ideas,  property  seems  to  acquire  a  new 
sacredness,  and  law  a  new  authority.  ISTeither  the  kings  of 
England,  nor  the  baronage  of  England,  may  henceforth 
touch  the  property  or  the  person  of  the  Englishman  except 
according  to  law.  The  law  takes  precedence  of  both. 
Both  owe  to  it  obedience — all  owe  to  it  obedience.  Knight 
and  baron,  burgess  and  freeholder,  subject  and  sovereign, 
have  their  ground  in  this  respect  in  common.  According 
to  maxims  which  have  now  become  accredited  and  familiar, 
will  is  nowhere  law,  but  law  is  everywhere  in  the  place  of 
w^ill.  The  English  yeoman  of  those  days,  and  many  below 
them,  thought,  and  spoke,  and  debated  concerning  these 
maxims.  So  did  the  merchants  in  their  guilds ;  and  so  did 
the  men  of  handicraft  when  they  gathered  about  their 
homely  hearths,  when  they  met  in  their  local  courts,  or 
assembled  as  fraternities  in  the  manner  then  common  to 
men  following  the  same  calling  or  '  mystery.'  The  educat- 
ing power  of  such  influences  might  be  seen  everywhere. 
To  congregate  was  to  learn,  and  there  was  scarcely  any 
other  way  of  learning.  Ev"en  in  the  universities,  more 
knowledge  was  obtained  from  the  lips  of  living  men  than 
from  books.  And  there  could  be  no  greater  mistake  than 
to  suppose,  that  the  people  of  England  in  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries,  cared  little  about  politics.  Concerning 
politics  as  a  theory  or  a  science  they  thought  little,  but  con- 
cerning government  as  a  matter  immediately  affecting  their 
personal  liberty  and  personal  gains  they  were  keen  observers 
and  keen  disputants.  The  question  of  government  was  with 
them,'  more  sensibly  than  with  us,  a  question  of  profit  and 
loss,  of  life  and  death.  It  determined  what  might  or  might 
not  be  accounted  as  their  own  ;  and  what  they  might  or  might 
not  be  made  to  do  or  to  endure.  The  portly  merchants,  and 
the  crowds  of  tradesmen  and  artisans,  who  made  the  old  arches 
in  the  crypt  of  St.  Paul's  to  ring  with  their  acclamations, 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  457 

as  clause  after  clause  of  the  statute  De  Tallagio  was  read,  book  iv. 

and  who  so  quickly  changed  their  note  to  that  of  indigna-     

tion  and  disgust  when  the  neutralizing  clause  at  the  end 
came,  were  clearly  men  to  whom  discussion  about  such 
questions  had  long  been  familiar.  So,  in  part,  did  the 
political  life  of  the  English  get  nutriment,  and  develop  itself 
in  those  days. 

Edward  I.  has  been  described  as  the  English  Justinian.  Edward's 
It  is  a  dishonour  to  the  race  of  our  Norman  kings  that  m?iu*re^& 
the  little  done  by  this  monarch  as  a  law  reformer  should 
have  sufficed  to  give  him  any  such  reputation.  His  statute 
of  mortmain,  and  his  endeavour  to  define  the  province  of 
the  ecclesiastical  as  distinguished  from  the  civil  courts — of 
which  we  shall  speak  in  another  place — were  wise  meas- 
ures.* The  same  may  be  said  of  the  law  which  prohibited 
the  increase  of  manors.f  Much  petty  tyranny  was  thus 
checked.  The  manors  of  England  are  now  as  determin^ed 
at  that  time.  But  this  is  nearly  the  extent  of  the  praise- 
worthy accomplished  by  Edward  I.  as  a  legislator.  His 
law  concerning  entails  was  of  questionable  utility ;  :j:  and 
the  other  salutary  enactments  of  his  reign  were  matters 
wrung  from  his  reluctant  grasp  by  an  indignant  people. 

It  should  be  added,  however,  that  the  attempts  of  this  judicial  re- 
king  to  purify  the  administration  of  law,  and  to  uphold  its  ^^^^' 
authority  in  all  cases  between  man  and  man  were  his  own 
free  action,  and  highly  commendable.  In  the  tenth  year  of 
his  reign,  all  the  judges,  with  two  exceptions  only,  were 
found  to  be  grossly  corrupt,  selling  their  influence  to  the 
man  off'ering  the  heaviest  bribe.  The  delinquents  were  de- 
prived of  their  office,  and  subjected  to  heavy  fines.  From 
this  time,  the  judges  were  sworn  to  abstain  from  accepting 
money,  or  presents  of  any  kind,  beyond  a  breakfast,  from 
persons  having  suits  before  them.§ 

With  such  dishonesties  in  high  places,  it  is  hardly  sur-  improve- 
prising  that  the  country  should  have  been  much  infested  ™oh°ce.° 

*  West,  ad  ann.  1280,  1285.     Duns.  584.     Wikes.  122.     Stat.  18  Ed.  I.  1. 
Pari  Hist.  i.  35,  36. 

+  Stat.  18  Ed.  I.  1.  X  Stat.  13  Ed.  I.  2. 

§  Chron.  i.     Wikes.   118,  119.      Duns.   873   et  seq.     Pari.   Hist.  i.  87, 

38. 


458  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^CHiS.  4^*  ^^^^  robbers.  Bands  of  such  men  had  their  haunts  in  all 
the  forest  districts.  To  check  these  disorders,  all  boroughs 
were  required  to  establish  watch  and  ward  from  sunset  to 
sunrise.  It  was  required  also,  that  the  high  roads  should 
have  a  space  of  two  hundred  feet  on  either  side  cleared  of 
trees,  and  of  everything  that  might  favour  a  sudden  assault 
upon  the  traveller.  To  ensure  the  observance  of  these  regu- 
lations, local  commissioners  were  appointed,  who  became 
the  precursors  to  our  modem  justices  of  the  peace.* 

Edward  II.         The  reign  of  Edward  11.  extends  from  1307  to  1327. 

Gaveston.  Tlicse  twcutj  jcars  give  us  the  history  of  a  king  incapable 
of  ruling,  and  of  an  alternating  struggle  between  a  sovereign 
content  to  be  governed  by  favourites,  and  nobles  who  are 
not  content  that  he  should  be  in  such  hands.  This  is  the 
political  drama  on  which  the  eyes  of  the  English  people  were 
fixed  during  those  years.  They  saw  the  young  king,  on  his 
accession  to  the  throne,  devoted  to  the  companionship  of 
a  favourite  named  Piers  de  Gaveston.  They  saw  in  the  roy- 
al favourite  a  Gascon  youth  of  handsome  presence,  skilled 
in  furnishing  the  weak  king  with  amusement,  in  casting 
ridicule  on  his  presumed  rivals,  and  in  sowing  distrust  and 
disaffection  between  the  sovereign  and  the  most  powerful 
of  his  subjects.  They  learn  at  length  that  even  the  young 
queen,  Isabella  of  France,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women 
in  Europe,  is  powerless  with  her  husband  in  comparison 
with  this  court  minion.  They  note  the  utterances  of  discon- 
tent as  they  become  daily  more  general  and  more  loud. 
They  listen  to  the  latest  rumours  about  certain  meetings  of 
nobles  and  their  followers  at  Ware  and  at  l^orthampton, 
about  the  barons  as  having  constrained  the  king  to  convene 
a  parliament,  in  which  grave  inquiry  will  be  made  into  the 
late  proceedings  of  the  government.  To  that  parliament 
they  send  their  knights  and  burgesses  ;  and  thence  the  re- 
port comes  to  them  that  divers  articles  of  accusation  are 
being  urged  against  the  favourite ;  such  as  that  he  has 
abused  the  king's  ear  so  as  to  obtain  immoderate  grants  to 
himself ;  that  he  has  embezzled  the  treasures  of  the  king- 
dom ;  that  he  has  taken  the  best  jewels  of  the  crown  to  his 

*  Stat.  13  Ed.  I.  2. 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  459 

own  use  :  that,  raised  as  he  now  is  above  the  most  ancient  ^^9^^  ^J- 

^  '  CHAP.  4. 

nobility  of  the  land,  his  father  had  suffered  as  a  traitor,  his     

mother  had  been  burnt  as  a  witch,  and  he  had  himself  been 
banished  as  implicated  in  her  machinations — machinations 
of  the  sort  which  conld  alone  account  for  his  present  influ- 
ence over  the  mind  of  the  king.  Tlie  expectation  is,  that 
the  power  of  the  favourite,  under  the  weight  of  such 
charges,  must  soon  come  to  an  end.  But  the  king  strug- 
gles hard  to  save  him.  He  would  have  the  differences 
between  himself  and  the  barons  settled  by  arbitration.  But 
the  fitting  men  shrink  from  the  responsibility.  The  barons 
insist  that  Gaveston  shall  leave  the  kingdom,  and  the  report 
now  is,  that  Edward  has  consented  to  his  banishment.  The 
favourite  embarks  at  Bristol.  But  the  king  accompanies 
him  to  that  place.  The  barons  soon  learn,  to  their  no  small 
mortification,  that  Gaveston  has  only  left  England  for  Ire- 
land, where  Edward  has  made  him  his  representative. . 
Such  are  the  political  contentions  which  chafe  men's  spirits 
at  the  commencement  of  this  reign.* 

The  parliament  which  secured  the  banishment  of  Gaves-  Parliament 
ton  was  convened  in  the  spring  of  1308 ;  another  was  as- 
sembled in  the  spring  of  the  following  year.  In  this 
interval,  enough  had  happened  to  foreshadow  the  disor- 
ders which  would  prove  inseparable  from  the  rule  of 
such  a  monarch.  The  commons  were  full  of  grievances, 
the  lords  not  less  so ;  and  both  were  resolved  on  seeking 
the  reformation  of  abuses,  and  on  doing  what  might  be 
done  towards  guarding  the  subject  against  the  mischiefs  to 
be  apprehended  from  the  sovereign  power  in  hands  so  little 
entitled  to  their  confidence. 

The  commons  presented  a  remonstrance  to  the  king,  in  Pemon- 
which  they  complain  that  clerks  had  not  been  appointed,  as  the  com- 
in  the  last  reign,  to  receive  their  petitions  ;  that  new  duties 
had  been  levied  on  cloth,  wine,  and  other  imports,  raising 
the  price  one-third  ;  that  his  majesty's  purveyors  seized  on 
all  kinds  of  provisions  at  their  pleasure,  without  giving  the 
required  security  for  payment ;  that  the  goods  taken  by  the 

*  Eymer,  iv.  63  et  scq.     Pari.  Hist.  i.  57,  58.     Stowe,  Hist.  213.     Wals. 
96. 


460  ENGLISH  AND   NOEMANS. 

BOOK  ly.  officers  of  the  kind's  household  for  his  use  in  fairs  and  mar- 

Chap.  4.  ^ 

kets  were  inordinate,  and  that  the  residue  was  sold  by  the 

said  officers  for  their  own  advantage  ;  and  that  the  coin  of 
the  realm  had  been  debased  so  as  to  have  raised  the  price 
of  all  commodities.  The  commons  go  on  to  say,  that  in 
addition  to  these  fiscal  grievances,  they  have  a  right  to  com- 
plain of  many  things  which  interfered  with  the  due  admin- 
istration of  the  law ;  of  the  stewards  and  mareschals  of  the 
king's  household,  who  entertained  pleas  that  did  not  per- 
tain to  them,  and  exercised  their  authority  in  places  beyond 
the  bounds  of  their  jurisdiction  ;  of  the  king  himself,  who, 
by  means  of  writs  under  the  privy  seal,  often  defrauded 
parties  in  civil  suits  of  their  rights,  and  afforded  even  to 
felons  the  means  of  escape  from  the  punishment  due  to  their 
crimes  ;  and  of  certain  barons,  who  set  up  courts  of  judica- 
ture at  their  castle  gates  without  authority,  to  the  dispar- 
agement of  the  king's  courts,  and  to  the  great  harm  of  the 
king's  subjects.* 

The  topics  of  this  remonstrance  make  us  acquainted 
with  the  notions,  and  something  more,  which  possessed  the 
minds  of  the  good  knights  and  burgesses,  who  took  to  their 
saddles  in  the  springtime  of  1309,  that  they  might  duly 
make  their  appearance  in  parliament,  as  representatives  of 
the  counties  and  towns  of  England.  On  these  matters  we 
must  suppose  that  they  muse  as  they  travel  alone ;  talk  as 
they  fall  in  with  each  other  on  the  way  ;  and  confer  more 
formally  when  gathered  in  force  at  the  place  of  meeting. 
Through  the  articles  of  this  petition  we  see  into  some  of  the 
evils  then  prevalent ;  and  in  the  tone  of  the  document  we  may 
discern  something  concerning  the  stage  of  political  insight 
and  feeling  to  which  the  English  people  generally  had  then 
attained.  The  king  promised,  after  some  hesitation,  that 
the  pray6r  of  the  petition  should  be  attended  to  in  all  its  par- 
ticulars. The  promise,  however,  concerning  the  new  duty 
on  imports,  was  soon  forgotten.f 
Return  of  Gavcstou  WRS  banishcd  in  the  summer  of  1308.    During 

the  next  twelve  months  the  king  endeavoured  to  add  to  the 
number  of  his  friends,  and  at  the  close  of  that  interval 

*  Rot.  Farl.  i.  441.    Prynne's  Eegister,  68.  f  Ibid. 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  461 

deemed  himself  strong  enougli  to  venture  on  a  recall  of  the  book  iv. 

favourite.     The  re-appearance  of  Gaveston  brought  with  it     

new  signs  of  disaffection.  In  two  instances  the  barons 
refused  to  obey  the  king's  summons  to  attend  him  in  par- 
liament, on  the  plea  that  their  persons  would  not  be  safe  in 
so  doing  while  so  much  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Gaveston. 
When  it  was  announced  that  the  favourite  had  withdrawn 
to  a  distance,  the  barons  assembled,  but  appeared,  contrary 
to  the  command  of  the  king,  followed  by  their  retainers. 

The  first  measure  of  this  parliament  was  to  appoint  a  The  com- 
committee  which  should  be  empowered  to  adopt  such  regu-  ordainers. 
lations  for  the  better  government,  both  of  the  king's  house- 
hold and  of  the  nation,  as  should  appear  to  them  expedient. 
This  committee  has  been  described  as  the  Committee  of 
*  Ordainers,'  from  the  ordinances  issued  by  them  for  this 
purpose.     It  consisted  of  eight  prelates,  the  same  number 
of  earls,  and  thirteen  barons.     It  was  to  cease  at  the  end 
of  twelve  months,  and  was  not  to  be  drawn  into  a  precedent 
that  should  be  in  any  way  injurious  to  the  rights  of  the 
crown.     Tliis    whole    proceeding  was    described    as     an 
arrangement  which  had  originated  in  the  free  choice  of 
the  sovereign — a  statement,  we  must  suppose,  to  which  no         ' 
one  gave  credence.'^ 

The  kins:  soon  absented  himself  from  London,  where  the  ordinances 

'^  .  '  oftheOr- 

Ordainers  held  their  meetings.  He  collected  an  army  in  damers. 
the  north,  was  there  joined  by  Gaveston,  and  then  marched 
into  Scotland.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  committee  in  London 
digested  a  series  of  articles,  forty-one  in  number,  designed 
to  correct  existing  abuses,  and  to  guard  against  their  recur- 
rence. These  articles  included  many  grievances  which  the 
king  had  already  promised  should  cease.  The  novelties  in 
this  memorable  schedule  may  be  said  to  have  been  confined 
to  the  clauses  which  provided  that  such  of  the  king's  pur- 
veyors as  should  exceed  their  lawful  commission  should  be 
pursued  by  hue  and  cry,  and  dealt  with  as  robbers ;  that 
the  wardens  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  and  the  governors  of  any 
foreign  land  subject  to  the  king,  should  be  chosen  by  the 
king  with  the  advice  of  his  barons  in  jyarliament  /  that  the 

*  Rot.  Pari.  i.  445.     Rymer,  iii.  2000  et  seq.     Pari.  Hist.  i.  68,  59.   ' 


462  ENGLISH   Ain)   NOKMANS. 

.^c2S/2''  slieriifs  of  counties  should  receive  their  commission  under 
the  great  seal,  but  should  he  appointed  hy  the  principal 
officers  of  state^  including  the  four  justices  of  the  King's 
Bench ;  that  the  king  should  not  lea/ve  the  kingdom^  nor 
declare  war^  without  the  'consent  of  his  harons  in  parlia- 
ment /  and  that  in  such  case  the  said  barons  should  make 
provision  for  the  safety  of  the  kingdom. 

Tliese  are  the  provisions  in  this  document  which  trench 
most  on  the  power  of  the  crown  as  hitherto  exercised.  The 
remaining  articles  of  this  tendency  relate  to  the  conduct  of 
the  king  towards  Gaveston  and  others,  who  were  charged 
with  exercising  an  undue  influence  over  him.  All  grants 
made  to  lord  Beaumont,  and  his  sister  lady  Yesey,  were 
declared  void,  and  it  was  required  that  those  persons  should 
no  more  be  seen  within  the  limits  of  the  court.  The  same 
was  determined  concerning  the  succession  of  grants  made 
to  Gaveston ;  and,  inasmuch  as  the  said  Piers  Gaveston 
had  given  evil  counsel  to  the  king,  had  sown  seeds  of  dis- 
trust and  alienation  between  him  and  his  faithful  subjects, 
had  appropriated  large  sums  of  public  money  to  his  own 
use,  had  possessed  himself  of  blank  charters  with  the  royal 
*  seal,  to  fill  up  and  distribute  at  his  pleasure,  and  liad  gone 
so  far  as  to  form  an  association  of  persons  sworn  to  protect 
him  against  all  men — it  was  required  that  the  said  Piers 
Gaveston  should  be  banished,  and  that  the  day  of  his  de- 
parture should  not  be  postponed  beyond  the  first  day  of 
E"ovember  next.  To  all  these  demands  Edward  found  him- 
self obliged  to  assent.  But  he  did  so  under  a  protest  in 
favour  of  the  rights  of  the  crown,  which  sufiiced  to  show 
that  the  oath  so  taken  would  be  repudiated  on  the  first  con- 
venient occasion.* 

On  the  first  of  November  a  sorrowful  parting  took  place 
between  Edward  and  Gaveston.  Two  months  afterwards 
the  favourite  was  recalled,  and  the  king  issued  a  proclama- 
tion declaring  the  innocence  of  the  banished,  man,  and  his 
readiness  to  meet  the  charges  preferred  against  him. 
Civil  war.  This  proceeding  led  to  civil  war.     The  king,  however, 

*  Rymer,  iii.  337.     Rot.  Pari  281.     Pari.  Hist.  i.  59,  60.     Walsing.  98v 
99.     Rrady's  Hist.  Ap. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  463 

dared  not  face  the  barons,  led  as  tliey  were  by  his  cousin,  book  ir 

tlie  powerful  earl  of  Lancaster.     Gaveston  fled  for  refuge     

to  tlie  castle  of  Scarborough.  The  fortifications  of  the  place 
were  not  such  as  to  promise  him  security.  On  certain  con- 
ditions, he  surrendered  himself  into  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies. From  Scarborough  he  was  conducted  to  Warwick. 
In  the  castle  of  that  place  the  barons  conferred  in  regard  • 
to  the  fate  of  their  victim. 

Gaveston  was  not  only  an  accomplished  man — lie  had  The  fate  of 
given  proofs  of  military  skill  and  courage.  In  the  holiday 
passages  at  arms  common  in  those  days,  he  had  triumphed 
over  four  nobles,  one  of  whom  was  Lancaster  himself.  But 
the  knight  did  not  bear  his  faculties  meekly.  His  impru- 
dence kept  pace  with  that  of  the  king.  The  latter,  it  was 
clear,  could  never  be  separated  from  this  man,  nor  be  pre- 
vented heaping  upon  him  new  wealth  and  ho  nours ;  the 
former  exasperated  his  opponents  from  day  to  day  by  his 
ostentations,  and  by  the  sarcasms  and  nicknames  which  he 
flung  at  them.  To  the  earl  of  Pembroke  he  gave  the  name 
of  '  Joseph  the  Jew ; '  the  earl  of  Gloucester  was  '  the 
cuckold's  bird  ; '  the  earl  of  AYarwick  was  '  the  black  dog 
of  the  wood  ; '  and  Lancaster  was  '  the  old  hog.'  In  the 
council  at  Warwick  Castle,  one  speaker  urged  that  the  life 
of  the  prisoner  should  be  spared  ;  no  unreasonable  counsel, 
bearing  in  mind  the  promise  made  on  his  surrender.  But 
the  '  black  dog '  had  vowed-  that  the  man  who  gave  him 
that  soubriqioet  should  some  day  '  feel  his  teeth ; '  and  a 
voice  responded  to  the  voice  which  counselled  mercy,  '  You 
have  caught  the  fox ;  to  let  him  go  will  be  to  have  to  hunt 
him  again.'  The  voice  of  the  last  speaker  prevailed.  It 
was  decided,  accordingly,  that  one  of  the  late  ordinances, 
said  to  be  applicable  to  his  case,  should  be  acted  upon,  and 
that  Gaveston  should  die.  The  unhappy  man  cast  himself 
at  the  feet  of  Lancaster,  and  implored  earnestly  for  his 
life ;  but  it  was  in  vain.  His  head  was  the  price  of  his 
follies.  This  happened  in  July.  In  the  following  October 
a  sort  of  reconciliation  took  place  between  the  king  and  the 
barons.* 

*  Rym.  iii.  28Y  et  seq.     Wals.  98-101.     Pari.  Hist.  i.  59.  60,  Brady,  Hist. 
iii.  ubi  supra. 


464:  ENGLISH  AND  NOEilANS. 

■^cnS^Z*        During  tlie  next  nine   years,  the  whole  country  was 
much  harassed  by  wars  with  the  Scots  and  the  Irish,  which 

at  length  brought  in  famine  and  pestilence.    Law  and  order 

came  almost  to  an  end. 
The  spen-  Somc  whilc  after  the  death  of  Gaveston,  his  place  in  the 

cers— the  «»        .  . 

barons        afiections  of  the  kinff  was  e-radually  supplied  by  a  youth 

again  in  oot/xxt/./ 

arms.  .  named  Hugh  Spencer.  The  new  favourite  was  of  aii 
ancient  family,  but  shared  in  the  jealousy  and  resentment 
incurred  by  his  predecessor.  In  1321,  he  attempted  to  take 
possession  of  an  estate  in  one  of  the  March  districts,  in  a 
manner  which  seemed  to  menace  the  liberties  claimed  by 
those  who  dwelt  on  such  lands.  The  lords  of  the  Marches 
in  the  neighbourhood  summoned  their  retainers,  and  enter- 
ing the  estates  of  Hugh  Spencer,  and  of  his  father,  plun- 

•  dered  and  destroyed  wherever  they  came.  Lancaster  and 
his  faction  were  induced  to  join  the  insurgents,  and  the  two 
parties  pledged  themselves  to  remain  together  until  the 
banishment  of  the  Spencers,  father  and  son,  should  be 
secured.  In  this  object  they  were  successful — successful  by 
pure  intimidation.  The  only  offence  of  the  elder  Spencer 
appears  to  have  been  that  he  was  the  father  of  the  younger. 
Both  were  absent  from  the  country  on  the  king's  service 
when  this  movement  against  them  took  place,  and  both 
were  condemned  without  a  hearing.* 

It  happened  at  this  juncture,  that  the  queen  intimated 
her  intention  to  pass  a  night  at  the  castle  of  Ledes,  on  her 
way  from  Canterbury  to  London.  But  the  lady  Bradles- 
mere,  in  possession  of  the  castle,  refused  her  admission ; 
which  led  to  an  encounter  between  her  retainers  and  the 
garrison,  f 

These  deeds  of  turbulence  and  insult  on  the  part  of  the 
barons'  faction  spread    distrust  and  alarm.     Reactionary 

-  feeling  became  prevalent.  The  king  soon  found  himself  in 
a  position  to  take  the  field  ao^ainst  his  enemies ;  and  tlie 

The  battle     ,-^,  ^^  i-,.-,  i  ^-.^i 

of  Borough-  battle  01  Borougnbridge  gave  the  most  powerful  of  them 
into  his  hands.     The  great  earl  of  Lancaster,  the  possessor 

*  Rot  Pari  iii.  361  et  scq.  Pari  Hist.  i.  TO,  '71.  Wals.  113,  114.  A 
translation  of  the  written  impeachment  preferred  against  them,  from  the  old 
French,  is  given  in  the  Pari  Hist.  i.  67-70. 

f  Pari  HisL  i.  114,  115.     Rymer,  897,  898. 


bridge. 


POLITICAL  LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  465 

of   five    earldoms,    perished    by    decapitation.     Fourteen  ^^^^]^ 

bannerets  were  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered ;   fourteen     

knights  suffered  the  same  punishment.  Many  more  were 
subjected  to  mitigated  penalties.  The  licence  and  severity 
of  the  baron's  party  brought  these  calamities  upon  them. 
But  the  king,  by  these  sanguinary  proceedings,  prepared 
the  way  for  that  revulsion  in  the  opposite  direction  which 
ended  in  his  imprisonment,  his  deposition,  and  his  death.* 

Immediately  after  the  victory  at  Boroughbridge,  Edward  Parliament 
assembled  a  parliament,  in  which  all  that  had  been  done  nances  re- 
by  the  '  Ordainers '  contrary  to  the  alleged  rights  of  the 
crown  in  past  time,  was  rescinded.  It  was  enacted,  also, 
that  such  changes  should  not  be  attempted  in  future  by 
means  of  any  such  delegation ;  but  that  all  laws  affecting 
'  the  estate  of  the  crown  or  of  the  people '  should  be  the  act 
of  the  king,  and  of  the  prelates,  earls,  barons,  and  com- 
monalty assembled  in  parliament.f  The  Spencers  were 
recalled  ;  but  it  was  only  that  the  younger,  emulating  the 
imprudence  of  Gaveston,  should  share  in  his  fate,  and  con- 
tribute to  the  fall  of  his  sovereign,  and  the  ruin  of  his  own 
family. 

Edward  11.  was  neither  a  vicious  man  nor  an  arbitrary  Deposition 
sovereign.  The  evils  which  came  upon  himself  and  upon 
his  kingdom  during  his  reign,  were  the  result  mainly  of  his 
narrow  self-will— of  the  kind  of  obstinacy  which  is  often 
allied  with  weakness.  His  propensity  to  give  his  heart  to 
some  one  person,  to  the  neglect  of  his  subjects  generally, 
and  even  of  his  queen,  exhibited  a  mixture  of  incapacity 
and  perverseness  which  became  at  length  unendurable. 
His  barons  were  haughty  and  turbulent ;  but  his  conduct 
was  such  as  to  offend  the  pride  he  should  have  soothed,  to 
provoke  the  turbulence  he  should  have  allayed.  It  was 
manifest  that  his  personal  gratifications  were  the  one  object 
of  his  affections  ;  and  to  this  frivolous  selfishness  in  the  king, 
we  have  to  trace  the  signal  want  of  loyalty  in  his  subjects, 
and  of  affection  even  in  his  own  family. 

*  Knighton,  2540.     Wals.  115,  116.     Kym.  907-940.     Leland,  Coll.  ii.  464 
et  seq. 

f  Pari.  Hist.  i.  76. 

Vol.  I.— 30 


4:66  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

^cSS  4^'  "^^  parliament  wliich  deposed  Edward  II.  recognised 
Ed^^^  his  son  prince  Edward  as  his  successor.  The  prince  was 
^^^-  fourteen  years  of  age  on  his  accession.     During  the  minor- 

ity of  the  young  king,  Isabella,  the  queen  mother,  and 
Roger,  lord  Mortimer,  were  in  virtual  possession  of  the  sov- 
ereignty. It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  conduct  of  the 
late  king  towards  Isabella  had  been  such  as  to  wound  her 
womanly  pride,  and  could  hardly  have  failed  to  alienate 
her  affections.  Towards  the  close  of  the  last  reign  the 
queen  had  taken  her  place  openly  on  the  side  of  the  dis- 
affected ;  and  her  intimacy  with  Mortimer,  the  leader  of  the 
insurgents,  though  innocent  for  a  while,  became  in  the  end 
a  scandal  to  the  court  and  the  nation.  At  the  expiration 
of  three  years  the  young  king  began  to  feel  his  thraldom. 
The  jealous  nobles  were  quite  ready  to  aid  him  in  bringing 
it  to  a  close. 
Fall  of  Moi-  In  the  autumn  of  1330,  a  parliament  was  convened  in 
^^^^'  Nottingham.  Measures  were  there  taken  to  seize  the  person 
of  Mortimer.  The  charges  brought  against  him  were,  that 
he  had  assumed  functions  which  the  parliament  had 
assigned  to  a  committee  ;  that  the  late  earl  of  Kent,  uncle 
to  the  king,  had  been  executed,  through  his  influence, 
without  just  cause  ;  that  he  had  subjected  the  king  to  the 
watchings  of  spies  ;  and,  above  all,  that  he  had  removed  the 
late  king  from  Kenilworth,  the  residence  selected  for  him 
by  the  estates  of  the  realm,  and  had  then  caused  him  to  be 
put  to  death.  Mortimer  suffered  as  a  traitor ;  and  Isabella 
spent  the  remaining  twenty-seven  years  of  her  life  under  a 
respectful  oversight  in  the  castle  of  Eisings.'^ 

During  a  reign  of  fifty  years  Edward  III.  summoned  no 
less  than  seventy  parliaments.  His  wars  in  Scotland  and 
in  France  compelled  him,  as  we  have  elsewhere  seen,  to 
make  frequent  application  for  aid  to  his  subjects  ;  and  one 
effect  of  this  course  of  events  was,  to  give  a  more  matured 
and  settled  form  to  the  constitution  and  the  usages  of  par- 
(/  liament. 

Settled  The  time  had  now  irrevocably  passed  in  which  a  parlia- 

of  pariia-     mcut  could  bc  supposcd  to  be  constituted  of  less  than  the 

*  Farl.  Hist  i.  81-87. 


mcnt. 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  467 

three  estates — tlie  clergy,  the  lords,  and   the  commons,  book  nr. 

These  estates  assembled  and  deliberated  apart.     The  clergy     

were  chitefly  occupied  with  questions  relating  to  the  church*; 
the  commons  with  measures  affecting  industry  and  trade  ; 
while  the  lords  took  a  somewhat  higher  range,  and  were  the 
great  authority,  next  to  the  crown,  in  all  secular  legislation. 
The  clergy  convened  with  each  parliament  consisted  of'  the 
prelates,  and  of  others  representing  the  chapters,  the  reli- 
gious orders,  and  the  inferior  clergy."^  The  lords  consisted 
of  barons  who  sat  by  their  own  right  as  such ;  and  of 
barons  by  writ,  who  were  dependent  for  their  right  to  be 
present  on  a  special  summons  from  the  crown.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  latter  class  was  restricted  to  men  holding 
lands  by  a  baronial  tenure.  The  barons  by  writ  became  few 
before  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  and  cease  to 
exist  soon  afterwards.  Bannerets  appear  to  have  been  oc- 
casionally summoned  to  the  House  of  Lords  until  a  some- 
what later  period. f  The  commons  reckoned  seventy-four 
knights  as  the  representatives  of  counties,  and  a  number  of 
burgesses,  which  varied  according  to  exigencies,  or  the  place 
of  meeting.  These  two  classes  now  formed  one  assembly, 
separate  from  the  lords  and  from  the  clergy.:}:  It  is  to  this 
union  between  the  representatives  of  landholders,  or  the 
gentry,  in  counties,  and  the  representatives  of  trade  in  towns, 

*  '  It  is  now,  perhaps  scarcely  known  by  many  persons  not  unversed  in  the 
constitution  of  their  country,  that,  besides  the  bishops  and  baronial  abbots,  the 
inferior  clergy  were  regularly  summoned  to  every  Parliament.  In  the  writ  of 
summons  to  a  bishop,  he  is  still  directed  to  cause  the  dean  of  his  cathedral  church, 
the  archdeacon  of  his  diocese,  and  one  proctor  from  the  chapter  of  the  former, 
and  two  from  the  body  of  his  clergy,  to  attend  with  him  at  the  place  of  meeting.' 
— Hallara,  Middle  Ages,  iii.  194,  195.  The  summons  to  parliament  is  readily 
distinguishable  from  a  summons  to  convocation,  as  the  convocations  were  provin- 
cial. This  representation  of  the  commons  among  the  clergy  may  be  traced  as 
far  back  as  1255,  and  was  one,  probably,  of  the  many  causes  which  served  to 
prepare  the  way  for  a  house  of  commons  for  the  laity. 

f  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  iii.  187,  188. 

X  Rot.  Pari.  ii.  64,  66,  69,  104.  Lingard,  Hist.  iv.  164.  The  fact  that 
every  record  of  grants  made  in  parliament,  from  the  time  it  is  made  to  consist 
of  three  estates,  is  the  record  of  grants  made  by  each  estate  separately,  warrants 
the  presumption  that  the  commons  were  wont  to  assemble  as  a  body  distinct  both 
from  the  lords  and  the  clergy  from  the  beginning.  It  is  certain  that  this  was 
the  usage  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  The  prelates,  however, 
sat  as  lords  in  parliament ;  but  the  estate  of  the  clergy  is  said  to  have  abstained 
from  voting  on  secular  questions. — Lingard,  iv.  157,  158.  In  the  last  year  of 
Edward  III.  the  commons  pray  that  no  tax  may  be  laid  on  certain  commodities 
without  '  assent  of  the  Prelates,  dukes,  earls,  barons,  and  commons.' — Pari. 
Hist.  i.  146. 


468 


ENGLISH  AND   NORMANS. 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap.  4. 


Usage  of 
parliament 
— growing 
power  of 
the  com- 


and  to  the  fact  that  these  two  classes  of  representatives 
formed  one  separate  assembly,  that  we  have  in  great  part 
to  attribute  the  permanence  and  the  growing  power  which 
has  characterized  this  branch  of  our  legislature.  The  wealth 
represented  by  the  burgesses  gave  them  weight  in  that 
form ;  and  the  higher  rank  ^nd  intelligence  of  their  col- 
leagues from  the  counties,  gave  to  their  joint  action  weight 
of  another  kind.  By  degrees  the  middle  element  blended 
itself  almost  equally  with  the  peerage  above  and  with  the 
commonalty  below.  "We  should  add,  that  the  expenses  of 
both  classes— of  what  we  should  call  county  members  and  bor- 
ough members — were  defrayed,  according  to  law,  by  their 
constituents.  The  burgess  received  two  shillings  a  day,  the 
knight  four — that  is,  at  the  rate  of  something  more  than 
two  and  four  pounds  a  day  of  our  money.* 

The  process  of  legislation  was  simple.  Of  the  lords  and 
commons,  either  might  propose  a  law,  but  the  assent  of  the 
other,  and  of  the  crown,  was  necessary  to  its  becoming  law. 
It  was  not  probable  that  the  lower  house  would  attempt  to 
legislate  for  the  upper.  But  as  little  was  it  permitted  to 
the  upper  house  to  legislate  for  the  lower.  In  the  nine- 
teenth year  of  his  reign,  when  in  the  zenith  of  his  j)ower, 
Edward  called  on  every  landholder  to  supply  him  with 
archers,  horsemen,  or  money,  according  to  his  means.  Tlie 
commons  petitioned  the  king  to  withdraw  this  demand,  on 
the  ground  that  it  had  not  been  made  with  their  sanction. 
The  king  answered  that  it  had  been  made  with  the  sanction 
of  the  lords,  and  that  his  necessities  had  rendered  such  a 
supply  indispensable.  But  such  reasoning  was  not  deemed 
satisfactory.  The  commons  persisted  in  their  protest  against 
being  bound  by  crown  or  peerage,  or  by  both  conjoined, 
without  their  own  consent.  Edward  promised  that  the 
measure  should  not  be  construed  as  a  precedent.  But  even 
that  was  insufficient,  and,  in  the  end,  a  statute  was  passed 
which  declared,  that  in  all  time  to  come,  ordinances  so 
issued  should  be  deemed  contrary  to  the  reasonable  liberty 
of  the  subject.f    Too  often  the  redress  promised  was  not  ren- 

*  Rot.  Pari.  ii.  258,  441.,  444.  The  usual  time  for  the  meeting  of  parlia- 
ments in  those  days  was  eight  in  the  morning. — Ibid.  816. 

f  Rot.  Pari.  ii.  160  et  seq.  See  also  the  petition  of  the  commons  in  the 
parliament  of  1348. — Pari.  Hist.  i.  116,  117.     'The  course  of  proceedings  in 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN   ENGLAND.  46^ 

dered  ;  and  the  law  issued  diifered  materially  from  that  to  ^^u^p  4 

which  the  king  had  given  his  assent.     But  against  these     

shameless  frauds,  a  stringent  provision  was  made  by  the 
commons  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  this  reign.* 

We  have  seen  the  reluctance  with  which  the  first  Ed- 
ward passed  the  law  which  made  all  taxation  to  be  abso- 
lutely dependent  on  the  consent  of  parliament.  The  third 
Edward  was  not  much  more  reconciled  in  heart  ro  that 
statute  than  the  first.  But  if  Edward  III.  resorted  at  times 
to  forced  loans,  and  illegal  taxes,  it  was  always  under  the 
plea  of  great  necessity  ;  and  the  validity  of  the  law  was  ad- 
mitted, while  reasons  for  some  exceptional  neglect  of  it  were 
urged.  More  than  once,  the  king  was  obliged  to  recede 
from  attempts  of  this  nature,  and  the  discontent  and  resist- 
tance  called  forth  by  such  dangerous  irregularities  sufficed 
to  render  them  of  comparatively  rare  occurrence.! 

The  tenths  and  fifteenths,  and  other  grants  in  parliament  Tenths  and 
similarly  designated,  were  a  species  of  property  tax.  They  fifteenths. 
were  money  payments,  which  came  into  tliO  place  of  per- 
sonal or  military  service.  In  the  first  instance,  they  were 
determined  by  the  value  of  every  man's  moveables,  but 
extended  subsequently  to  his  entire  property.  In  the 
course  of  this  reign,  the  inquisitorial  conduct  of  the  govern- 
ment officers  became  so  ofi'ensive  to  the  people,  that  the 
custom  obtained  of  allowing  towns  and  counties  to  com- 

parliament,  from  the  commencement  at  least  of  Edward  III.'s  reign,  was,  that 
the  commons  presented  petitions,  which  the  lords  by  themselves,  or  with  the 
assistance  of  the  council,  having  duly  considered,  the  sanction  of  the  king  was 
given  or  withheld.'— Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  iii.  161.  The  commons  grew  to  be 
more  and  more  solicitous  to  uphold  this  usage  in  regard  to  money  bills  ;  but  in 
regard  to  other  bills,  it  was  not  a  uniform  custom  in  succeeding  times. — Mot. 
Pari.  iii.  611. 

*  Rot.  Pari.  ii.  257.    ~ 

f  The  rolls  of  parliament,  for  the  21st  and  22nd  years  of  Edward  III.,  teem 
with  these  pleas  of  necessity  on  the  part  of  the  crown  ;  and  with  protests  against 
any  form  of  taxation  under  such  pretexts  on  the  part  of  the  commons.  In  these 
contests  the  scale  turns  more  and  more  on  the  side  of  the  commons. — Pari.  Hist. 
i.  ubi  supra.  Hallam,  iii.  62-69.  The  following  is  the  answer  of  Edward  III.  to 
the  petition  from  his  last  parliament  on  this  subject :  '  As  to  the  clause  that  no  ' 
charge  be  laid  upon  the  people  without  the  commons'  consent,  the  king  is  not 
at  all  willing  to  do  it  without  great  necessity,  and  for  the  defence  of  the  realm, 
and  where  he  may  do  it  with  reason.  And  as  to  the  clause  that  impositions 
be  not  laid  upon  their  wools  without  consent  of  the  prelates,  dukes,  earls, 
barons,  and  other  people  of  the  commons  of  the  realm,  there  is  a  statute 
already  made  which  the  king  wills  should  stand  in  force.' — Pari.  Hist.  i. 
145. 


470  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^cha^  V'  P^^^^  ^^^^  t^^^  government  for  a  fixed  sum,  and  then  to 

raise  the  amount  among  themselves.* 

Tonnage  From  this  reign,  certain  duties  levied  by  the  king  at  the 

poundage,  geaports,  became  known  by  the  name  of  tonnage  and 
poundage.  By  this  custom,  the  crown  obtained  two  shil- 
lings on  every  tun  of  wine  imj)orted,  and  sixpence  on  evety 
pound  of  commodities  imported  or  exported.  Tonnage  and 
poundage,  was  at  first  a  sort  of  voluntary  grant,  made  by 
the  principal  seaports  to  aid  the  king  in  sustaining  a  navy 
for  the  protection  of  trade,  or  at  least  to  enable  him  to  pay 
for  the  use  of  such  ships  as  might  be  pressed  into  his  ser- 
vice. It  soon  came  to  be  a  grant  made  anew  by  every  new 
parliament,  and  retained  its  ancient  designation  long  after 
its  proceeds  had  ceased  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  their 
ancient  uses.  These  duties,  were  in  addition  to  the  heavy 
tax  on  wools,  woolfells,  and  hides.  Attempts  were  made  by 
the  crown  to  increase  duties  of  the  latter  kind  without  con- 
sent of  parliament ;  and  sometimes  to  impose  duties  on  ex- 
ports without  such  consent,  under  the  plea  that  the  increase 
in  price  in  such  instances  fell  on  the  consumer  in  other 
countries — as  though  high  prices  could  never  be  supposed  to 
act  as  impediments  upon  sales.  But  the  commons  were 
vigilant,  and  insisted  on  their  right  to  control  taxation  in 
such  forms,  as  in  others.f 
Further  ju-  I*  has  appeared,  that  to  secure  the  passing  of  good  laws 
forms^^"  was  only  one  step  in  the  direction  of  good  government — ^to 
ensure  the  just  administration  of  such  laws  was  the  next 
difiiculty.  The  judges,  and  the  officers  in  the  diiferent 
courts,  were  expected  to  make  those  courts  serviceable  to 
the  exchequer — and  we  have  seen  that  they  were  not  less 
intent  to  derive  from  them  supplies  for  their  own  coffiers.  In 
this  reign,  the  salaries  of  the  judges  were  raised,  that  they 
might  be  under  less  temptation  to  take  bribes.:]:    Tlie  she- 

*  Eot.  Pari.  ii.  44Y,  448. 

f  Hot.  Pari.  ii.  104,  160,  161,  166,  210,  273,  310,  317,  366. 

X  We  have  seen  the  cheek  given  to  the  corruption  of  the  judges  by  Ed- 
ward I.  In  the  20th  year  of  Edward  III.  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  issue  an 
ordinance  to  the  following  effect :  '  That  all  the  king's  justices  throughout  his 
dominions,  should  renounce  and  utterly  forbear  taking  any  pensions,  fees,  or 
any  sort  of  gratuities  which  before  they  used  to  receive,  so  well  from  lords 
temporal  and  spiritual  as  others,  that,  as  their  hands  being  free  from  corruption, 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  471 

riffs,  and  other  responsible  officers,  were  required  to  be  men  ^q^^  ^• 

of  property,  and  to  be  chosen  annually,  that  so  aggrieved  per-     

sons  might  find  it  less  difficult  to  obtain  compensation  from 
the  authors  of  their  grievances.  The  powers  of  the  justices 
of  the  peace,  moreover,  were  greatly  enlarged  ;  and  private 
wars  were  more  effectually  discountenanced.*  These  are 
among  the  good  works  of  the  English  House  of  Commons 
under  Edward  III.  The  House  of  Lords  was  more  occupied 
with  judicial  than  with  fiscal  questions,  and  in  settling  dis- 
putes among  their  own  order,  than  in  exposing,  and  provid- 
ing against  the  grievances  of  the  nation.  Tliey  gave  their 
ready  assent,  however,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  liberal  peti- 
tions of  the  commons,  and  exercised  great  powers  as  the 
high  judicial  authority  of  the  realm,  deteraaining  the  mean- 
ing of  the  law  where  the  judges  declined  giving  a  decision, 
and  correcting  their  decision  when  deemed  erroneous. 

There  was  one  statute  of  this  period  in  which  the  lords  The  law  of 

^  treason  de- 

were  especially  interested.  This  was  the  statute  intended  fl^^ed. 
to  determine  more  accurately  the  offences  which  should  be 
adjudged  as  treason.  The  penalties  of  treason  w^ere  the 
most  terrible  known  to  the  law,  while  the  law  itself  in  this 
case  was  the  most  unsettled.  Obnoxious  persons  were  liable 
to  be  convicted  of  this  heaviest  of  crimes,  on  the  ground  of 
acts  which  gave  no  warrant  to  such  an  accusation,  except 
as  construed  in  ways  the  most  disengenuous  and  dangerous. 
But  if  this  latitude  in  the  law  was  deemed  an  evil  by  the 
subject,  it  was  accounted  an  advantage  by  the  crown.  J^ot 
only  was  the  fence  about  loyalty  supposed  to  be  the  greater, 
but  the  traitor  forfeited  his  estates,  and  all  such  estates  went 
to  the  king.  In  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  Edward  III., 
the  commons,  stimulated  probably  by  the  lords,  took  up 
this  subject  with  great  earnestness,  and  persisted  in  their 
suit  until  a  new  statute  was  obtained.  This  law  declared 
that  treason  should  attach  in  future  to  seven  offences  only 
— especially  to  such  as  should  be  convicted,  by  their  peers, 
or  by  a  competent  jury,  of  compassing  or  imagining  the 

justice  might  be  more  impartially  and  uprightly  administered.' — Pari.  Hist.  i. 
111. 

*  Statutes,  1st  Ed.  III.  14,  16 ;  2nd,  6,  Y ;  3rd,  4,  14th,  T,  8 ;  20th,  4,  5, 
6 ;  28th,  1. 


472  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

■^SS//"  ^^^th  of  the  king,  the  queen,  or  their  eldest  son  ;  of  levying 
war  within  the  realm,  or  taking  part  with  the  king's  ene- 
mies ;  of  littering  counterfeit  coin  ;  of  murdering  certain 
great  officers  of  state,  or  a  judge  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty.* 

Another  significant  change  is  due  to  the  patriotism  of 
the  commons  of  England  during  this  reign.  It  was  provided 
that  all  pleadings  in  courts  of  law  should  in  future  be  in 
English.  This  had  long  been  the  usage  in  some  measure, 
but  chiefly  in  the  lower  courts.  From  this  time  those  most 
interested  in  knowing  how  a  case  was  presented,  w^hether  in 
civil  or  criminal  causes,  became  fully  cognizant  of  all  that 
was  said  in  relation  to  it.  This  law  belongs  to  the  thirty- 
fifth  year  of  Edward  III. ;  and  when  the  next  jjarliament 
assembled,  the  opening  address  was  for  the  first  time  in 
English.f 

In  this  change  we  may  see  clearly,  that  we  have  reached 
the  point  of  revolution  in  English  history  in  which  the 
Anglo-Saxon  element  becomes  again  decidedly  ascendant. 
This  law,  in  fact,  required  that  all  schoolmasters  should 
teach  their  scholars  to  construe  in  English,  and  not,  as  hith- 
erto, in  French.  :j:  The  great  landholders  are  still  of  IS'or- 
man  descent,  and  retain  their  familiarity,  for  the  most  part, 
with  the  French  language.  But  the  bulk  of  the  people  are 
English.  The  gentry  are  receiving  daily  more  and  more 
of  an  infusion  from  the  English  ;  and  in  becoming  powerful 
enough  to  determine  the  language  of  the  country,  not  only 
in  common  life,  but  in  schools,  and  courts,  and  parliaments, 
the  men  of  English  blood  have  become  powerful  enough  to 
give  the  impress  of  their  character  to  almost  everything 
beside. 
Liberties  From  this  time  to  the  accession  of  the  house  of  Tudor, 

gained  dur-  ,.-,■,.  p-titt 

ing  this  the  constitutional  history  oi  England  presents  many  new 
facts,  but  they  are  nearly  all  the  development  of  old  princi- 
ples. The  reign  of  Richard  II.,  extending  from  1377  to 
1399,  added  considerably  to  the  precedents  of  the  past  in 
favour  of  popular  liberty.  So,  through  all  the  changes 
which  followed,  many  of  them  apparently  the  most  unfa- 

*  Hot.  Pari.  n.  239.  f  Pari.  IIK  i.  127,  128.  X  H^i^. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  473 

vourable,  tlie  liberties  acquired  under  Edward   III.  are  ^9^^  ^• 

T  ^  ^  Chap.  4. 

retained,  made  more  clear  and  certain,  and  in  some  respects     

enlarged.  One  precedent  follows  another  in  favour  of  the 
right  of  the  commons  in  making  their  grants  of  supplies 
dependent  on  the  redress  of  grievances  ;  insisting  that  such 
redress  when  promised  shall  be  faithfully  rendered ;  in 
securing  that  laws  passed  shall  be  recorded  without  corrup- 
tion or  mutilation  ;  in  declaring  that  no  law  shall  be  enact- 
ed, and  no  tax  levied,  without  their  consent ;  in  asserting 
that  to  them  it  pertains  to  inspect  and  control  the  public 
expenditure,  and  to  impeach  the  ministers  of  the  crown  for 
misconduct ;  and  in  claiming  on  behalf  of  their  members, 
full  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  right,  moreover,  to  originate 
all  money  bills.  'Nor  are  there  wanting  instances  in  which 
large  views  are  announced  touching  the  authority  of  parlia- 
ment in  relation  to  the  possessions  of  the  clergy  and  the  law 
of  succession.*  In  these  facts  we  find  nearly  all  the  pop- 
ular principles  since  developed  in  our  history ;  and  these 
may  all  be  traced,  more  or  less  clearly,  to  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fourteenth  century.  Practice  did  much  to  give 
permanence  and  authority  to  these  principles,  but  the 
constitution  for  the  preservation  of  which  so  memorable  a 
struggle  was  sustained,  partly  under  the  Tudors,  but  espe- 
cially under  the  Stuarts,  was  the  constitution  realized  by  the 
English  House  of  Commons  in  the  days  of  Edward  III. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  what  was  thus  done  on  the  reia. 
by  our  kings  and  nobles,  and  by  our  knights  and  burgesses,  tween'Taw 
sets  forth  the  history  merely  of  a  legislature,  or  of  a  govern-  *"^  p^^p^*'- 
ment,  teaching  us  little  concerning  the  political  life  of  the 
people.     These  great  facts  do  indeed  lie  on  the  surface  of 
the  past,  but  they  tell  us,  with  no  little  certainty  and  clear- 
ness, what  was  beneath.     The  debates  and  the  law-makings 
of  these  parties  may  teach  us  little  directly  concerning  the 
community  at  large,  but  they  teach  us  much  indirectly.    In 
the  ordinances  and  laws  of  these  ancient  commoners,  we 
may  see  the  embodied  thoughts  and  passions  of  those  in 
wliose  behalf  they  took  their  long  and  weary  journeys,  and 

*  Eot.  Pari.  ii.   64  et  seq.     Pari.  Hist  i.  34-157.     Reeves's  History  of 
English  Law,  i.  c.  ix.-xiv.     Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  iii.  124  et  seq. 


474 


ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 


Condition 
of  the  peo- 
ple— the 
villein. 


BOOK  lY.  sacrificed  mucli  precious  time.    The  grievances  ejiumerated 

by  them,  were  the  facts  and  experiences  to  be  found,  more 

or  less,  in  all  the  farms  and  markets,  in  all  the  factories  and 
seaports,  and  very  largely  at  the  firesides,  of  the  then  living 
people.  Still,  it  is  well  to  look  below  this  surface,  and  to 
descend  closely  to  what  is  beneath,  as  far  as  we  may. 

We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  IS'ormans  intro- 
duced any  portion  of  the  serf  population  found  under  their 
sway  in  England.  The  class  in  that  condition  after  the  Con- 
quest, were  such  as  had  been  in  that  condition  before  that 
event,  or  the  descendants  of  such.  Not  a  few  of  these  were 
of  British  origin,  and  had  clung  to  the  soil  under  Saxon, 
Dane,  and  Norman.  Under  the  early  Norman  kings  the 
condition  of  this  class  was  very  low.  According  to  Glanvil, 
even  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.  the  villein  of  the  lowest  class, 
could  call  nothing  his  own,  neither  his  tenement,  his  land, 
nor  his  movables.  His  lord's  claim,  both  upon  him  and 
his,  was  absolute  ;  and  his  children  were  born  into  the  same 
condition.*  Still,  he  was  not  really  a  slave.  He  might  be 
punished  or  imprisoned  by  his  lord  ;  but  murder,  mutila- 
tion, or  rape,  on  the  part  of  a  superior  towards  his  villein, 
exposed  him  to  an  indictment  at  the  king's  suit ;  and  in 
relation  to  all  other  men  the  villein  might  claim  the  com- 
mon protection  of  the  law.f 

But  while  some  were  villeins  in  the  absolute  sense  above 
stated,  others  were  described  as  villeins,  because  holding 
lands  on  condition  of  rendering  certain  personal  services,  in 
the  manner  of  the  villeins,  in  lieu  of  rent.  Tlie  land  was 
held  in  this  case  on  what  was  accounted  a  villein  tenure, 
but  the  man  himself  was  not  a  villein.ij:  This  soccage  tenure, 
as  before  mentioned,  was  in  reality  the  tenure  of  free  men. 

How  the  serf,  or  the  villein  proper,  as  he  is  sometimes 
called,  should  ever  have  become  free  may  seem  a  mystery, 
seeing  that  whatever  he  might  present  as  the  price  of  his 
freedom  must  have  been  already  the  property  of  his  owner. 
But  this  has  been  in  part  explained.  The  lord,  it  appears, 
did  not  always  need  the  entire  labour  of  his  servile  depend- 

*  Glanvil,  lib.  v.  c.  5.  f  Littleton,  §  181,  189,  190,  194. 

X  Ibid.  112.     Bracton,  lib.  ii.  c.  8  ;  iv.  c.  28.     Hallam,  iii.  25*7. 


Villeins  by 
tenure. 


Eise  of  vil- 
leins into 
freemen. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  475 

ents,  and  often  allowed  them  to  hire  themselves  for  their  ^^^  ^• 

surplus  time   to   their  own   advantage.     Haughty  nobles     

valued  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  their  labourers,  as 
secured  by  such  treatment,  much  more  than  the  gains  that 
might  have  been  realized  by  a  more  rapacious  policy.  By 
degrees,  the  amount  of  service  required  became  fixed,  and 
in  some  instances  a  copy  of  the  agreement  so  entered  into 
was  furnished.  In  this  manner  the  right  of  copyhold  land, 
which  answered  very  much  to  the  *  bocland '  held  under 
the  Saxon  kings,  had  its  origin  ;  and  in  the  time  of  Edward 
III.  it  had  become  law,  that  the  lord  could  not  seize  the 
land  ofv  such  tenants  so  long  as  the  holder  paid  his  rent  in 
the  shape  of  the  stipulated  amount  of  service.  Many  of  the 
lower  grade  of  villeins  became  freemen  through  favour  of 
the  clergy  to  whom  they  happened  to  be  subject ;  or  tln*ough 
the  influence  of  the  clergy  with  their  lords.  But  a  greater 
number  probably  became  independent,  as  before  stated,  by 
becoming  fugitives,  when  to  follow  them  from  one  part  of 
the  country  to  another  was  difficult,  and  when  the  law  was 
known  to  be  upon  the  whole  in  their  favour,  by  accounting 
them  free  after  a  certain  interval  of  unmolested  residence 
elsewhere.  In  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  the  parliament  com- 
plained that  villeins  fled  from  the  country  to  the  cities  and 
boroughs,  and  that  the  citizens  and  burgesses  gave  them 
protection,  in  deflance  of  their  lords  when  laying  claim  to 
them.* 

We  have  already  seen,  that  twenty  years  after  the  ac-  Great 
cession  of  Edward  III.  the  handicraft  and  the  husbandry  JSe  la- 
of  the  country  had  come  to  be  carried  on,  for  much  the 
greater  part,  by  free  labourers.  The  dearth  and  pestilence 
of  1348  had  so  diminished  the  labouring  population,  that 
very  stringent  laws  were  then  issued  to  compel  the  artisan 
and  the  peasant  to  work  for  a  certain  rate  of  wages — laws 
which  clearly  imply  that  the  labouring  classes  were  then  to 
a  great  extent  free  to  sell  their  labour  to  the  highest  bidder. 
Some  traces  of  villenage  indeed  continue  in  our  history  so 
late  as  the  age  of  Elizabeth ;  but  from  the  middle  of  the 

*   Rot.  Pari.  ill.   294-296.      Hallam,  iii.   258-269.      Eden,  State  of  the 
Poor. 


476 


ENGLISH   AND   NOKMANS. 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap.  4. 


Effect  of 
progress  in 
skilled  la- 
bour. 


The  Eng- 
lish aristo- 
cracy not 
a  privileged 
class. 


fourteenth  century,  the  indications  of  its  existence  are  faint, 
and  seem  to  become  more  and  more  faint  with  each  gene- 
ration. 

So,  by  degrees,  a  numerous  free  peasantry  grew  up, 
taking  their  place  abreast  with  the  freemen  in  towns.  From 
this  condition  many  made  their  way  into  the  class  next 
above  them,  consisting  of  substantial  yeomen  and  traders  ; 
and  from  these  classes  taken  together,  came  those  men  of  the 
bow  and  -  the  battle-axe,  who,  under  the  guidance  of  our 
I^orman  chivalry,  made  the  English  name  so  world-famous 
in  the  days  of  our  Edwards  and  Henrys.  But  the  tide 
which  shifted  the  strata  beneath  in  this  manner,  did  so 
under  a  pressure  from  beyond  itself,  and  tended  towards 
results  only  partially  foreseen.  These  new  conditions  of  the 
more  occuj)ied  classes  came  from  new  ideas,  and  could 
hardly  fail  to  be  fruitful  of  other  ideas  not  less  new.  Men 
had  claimed  these  new  conditions,  in  the  main,  because  they 
had  come  to  feel  them  to  be  in  themselves  fitting  and  right, 
and  they  had  been  ceded,  in  the  main,  for  the  same  reason. 
In  these  facts  we  have  signs  of  the  political  life  of  the  people 
as  it  then  existed.     It  is  growing,  and  it  will  grow. 

It  was  to  the  honour  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Eng- 
land, that  they  could  never  claim  any  exemption  from  the 
burdens  of  the  state,  or  any  real  suspension  of  the  law  in 
their  favour,  by  virtue  of  their  rank.  In  this  resj)ect,  the 
ground  on  which  they  stood  was  really  more  noble  than  that 
occupied  by  the  noblesse  of  France,  and  other  Continental 
nations.  To  this  honourable  peculiarity  we  have  in  part  to 
attribute  the  fact,  that  we  hear  so  little  of  feud  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  commonalty  in  those  times."^^"  It  gave 
to  both  classes  a  common  interest  in  the  law  to  whicli  they 
were  in  common  subject,  and  contributed  probably  fully 
as  much  as  the  limitations  imposed  on  the  power  of  the 
crown,  to  give  permanence  to  our  system  of  liberty.     But 

*  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  good  feeling  between  the  two  houses  we 
have  in  the  parliament  of  the  fifth  year  of  Richard  II.  The  commons  requested 
the  advice  of  the  lords  on  a  matter  before  them  ;  but  respect  for  the  accustomed 
independence  of  the  Lower  House  led  their  lordshi}3s  to  reply,  that  the  ancient 
form  of  parliament  had  been  for  the  commons  to  report  their  own  opinion  to  the 
lords  and  the  king,  and  not  the  contrary,  and  on  this  ground  the  request  was  not 
complied  with. — Rot  Pari.  iii.  100. 


POLITICAL   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  477 

if  our  nobles  were  less  distinguished  than  the  same  order  of  ^^j^  ^^• 

men  in  most  countries  by  political  privileges,  they  were     

men  of  large  wealth,  and  shown  in  all  the  splendour  natur- 
ally attendant  on  the  man  of  large  possessions.  Tlie  con- 
trast between  this  baronial  magnificence  and  the  poverty 
and  villeinage  elsewhere,  might  be  harmless  so  long  as 
political  thought  lay  dormant.  But  it  was  otherwise  when 
such  thought  became  active.  The  night — a  long  night — 
had  passed,  the  waking  time  had  come ;  and  what  the 
thoughts  were  which  that  awakening  had  brought  with  it, 
in  the  case  of  the  industrious  middle  class,  and  of  the  labour- 
ing class  below  them,  history  has  in  paii:  disclosed  to  us. 

It  was  no  secret  to  this  fi-rowina;  middle  class,  that  from  Growth  of 

<->  ^  '  indepen- 

their  head  and  their  hand,  for  the  most  part,  came  the  dence. 
wealth  and  splendour  of  the  powerful  class  above  them. 
They  thus  learnt  to  attemper  the  respect  due  to  that  class 
with  a  becoming  recollection  of  the  respect  due  to  them- 
selves. They  knew  they  had  duties,  but  they  knew  also 
that  they  had  rights.  In  the  presence  of  the  proudest  they 
were  not  often  abashed.  -The  distance  between  the  burgess 
and  the  knight,  the  yeoman  and  the  baron,  might  be  great ; 
but  the  ground  which  severed  them  from  each  other  had 
long  been  greatly  diminishing,  and  was  felt  to-  be  by  no 
means  so  considerable  as  that  which  they  occupied  in 
common.  The  popular  poetry,  and  the  private  history,  of 
the  time,  place  these  men  of  clear  head  and  strong  hand 
before  us,  as  men  of  free  utterance  and  of  erect  bearing,  yet 
as  serious  withal,  whenever  the  matter  in  hand  was  of  a 
nature  to  demand  seriousness. 

Such  were  the  yeomen  and  burghers  who  sent  knights 
and  burgesses  to  parliament.  It  was  under  such  guidance, 
in  great  part,  that  these  English  commoners  learnt  to  insist 
in  that  assembly,  that  the  Englishman  should  not  be  taxed 
without  his  consent,  and  to  insist  on  much  beside  of  that 
nature,  of  which  mention  has  been  made. 

But  it  is  observable,  that  much  as  the  House  of  Com-  Loose  con- 
mons  was  valued  by  this  class,  the  question  of  the  suffrage  suffrage. 
did  not  hold  the  place  with  them  that  has  been  assigned  to 
it  in  later  times.     County  members  were  deputed  to  their 


4Y8  ENGLISH  AND  NOKMANS. 

EgoK  IV.  service  by  the  loose  suffrage  of  the  gathering  in  the  county 

court.     As  we  have  seen,  it  is  not  until  the  reign  of  Henry 

YI.  that  the  right  of  voting  was  limited  by  the  forty-shilling 
freehold."^  Borough  members  are  said  to  be  sent  by  the 
community  ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  choice 
was  often  left  to  the  borough  corporation.!  Tlie  cause  of 
this  course  of  affairs  seems  to  have  been,  that  there  was  very 
little  difference  of  opinion  among  commoners  in  those  days 
concerning  what  was  needing  to  be  done.  Let  the  counties 
and  the  boroughs  send  their  men,  and,  in  general,  the  feel- 
ing, would  appear  to  have  been,  that  there  was  no  room  to 
fear  the  competency  of  the  house  to  do  the  work  expected 
from  it.  The  first  signs  of  jealousy  in  relation  to  the  suff- 
rage were  called  forth  by  tlie  conduct  of  certain  sheriffs,  who 
learnt  to  make  a  bad  use  of  the  power  entrusted  to  them. 
Defective  and  corrupt  returns  were  frequently  made  by 
them,  sometimes  to  gratify  their  own  prejudice  or  caprice, 
and  sometimes  in  obedience  to  an  unconstitutional  influ- 

The  pur-     ence  exerted  by  the  crown.  :j: 

^ffva^nce.  The  high  comparative  freedom  of   the  commonalty  in 

those  times  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  next  to  their 
complaints  against  illegal  taxation,  their  great  grievance 
.  related  to  the  custom  of  purveyance.     When  the  king  trav- 

elled, his  attendants  often  amounted  to  several  hundreds, 
and  his  purveyors  lodged  the  company,  and  seized  on  vehi- 
cles, horses,  and  provisions  at  pleasure.  The  law,  indeed, 
required  that  for  all  this  there  should  be  reasonable  com- 
pensation, but  that  compensation  was  often  difficult  to 
obtain.  Tlie  payment  was  rarely  adequate,  often  long 
delayed,  and  sometimes  never  made  at  all.  To  protect  them- 
selves against  the  consequences  of  these  occasional  visits  of 
royalty,  the  commons  obtained  a  law  in  the  reign  of  Edward 

*  Statutes,  8th  Hen.  VI.  c.  1. 

f  See  pp.  495,  496.  Some  of  the  boroughs,  as  is  well  known,  prayed  to  be 
exempt  from  the  privilege  of  sending  members  on  the  score  of  expense.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  during  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  and  the  next  four 
reigns,  the  boroughs  of  Lancashire  are  uniformly  returned  by  the  sheriff  as  too 
poor  to  send  members. — 4  Prynne,  31*7. 

X  In  the  fifth  year  of  Richard  II.  a  law  was  passed  intended  to  ensure 
a  more  regular  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  sheriff's  duty  in  this  respect.  But 
there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  poorer  and  more  distant  boroughs  were  never 
more  than  partially  represented  even  when  they  received  the  writ. 


POLITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAIO).  479 

III.  wliicli  said,  tliat  the  right  of  purveyance  should  not  book  pt. 

extend  beyond  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  heir-apparent ;     

that  even  these  should  provide  tlieir  own  horses  and  vehi- 
cles ;  that  the  local  authorities  should  see  to  the  lodgment 
of  the  king's  attendants,  and  should  decide  on  all  questions 
in  regard  to  charge  for  accommodation  and  provision  ;  that 
small  sums  should  be  paid  immediately ;  that  the  credit  in 
no  case  should  extend  beyond  four  months ;  and  that  the 
servants  of  the  king  infringing  this  law,  as  the  manner  of 
some  had  been,  should  be  accounted  felons,  and  be  dealt 
with  as  such.  By  this  enactment  the  grievance  was  greatly 
diminished,  though  it  did  not  cease  to  be  felt  as  such  during 
many  generations.  The  irritations  produced  by  this  custom 
wxre  no  doubt  a  greater  mischief  than  the  losses  which  it 
occasioned ;  but  the  sufferings  of  a  people  which  felt  this 
to  be  their  great  grievance  could  not  have  been  very 
weighty.* 

It  is  probable  that  the  suffering  of  the  lowest  class — ^the  Growth  of 
town  artisan  and  the  peasant  labourer — was  not  greater  in  wJtent.  '^ 
those  days  than  will  be  found  in  the  same  classes  in  much 
later  times.  But  the  contrast  in  that  day  between  the  con- 
dition of  the  high  and  the  low  was  much  stronger,  while  the 
ignorance  of  the  latter  class  often  disqualified  them  for 
receiving  with  sobriety  the  new  ideas  regarding  the  com- 
mon origin  of  the  race,  and  the  common  relation  of  all  men 
to  right,  and  to  the  Allrighteous,  which  were  then  breaking 
upon  them  so  forcibly  from  parliaments  and  pulpits.  The 
maxims  of  equality  announced  by  Magna  Charta,  and  which 
had  been  iterated  with  so  much  constancy  and  emphasis  in 
political  and  parliamentary  struggles  since  ;  and  the  sacred- 
ness  which  had  been  imparted  to  those  maxims  by  the  sanc- 
tion which  religion  itself  had  conferred  on  them,  had  evi- 
dently caused  them  to  take  strong  possession  of  the  mind 
of  the  class  feeling  itself  to  be  the  lowest,  and  accounting 

*  See  the  references  to  a  number  of  statutes  on  this  subject  in  the  time  of 
Edward  III.— ParZ.  Hist  i.  149-156. 

In  the  twentieth  year  of  this  reign,  '  some  complaints  having  been  made  to 
the  king  and  parhament  against  the  purveyors  for  the  king's  household,  who 
under  colour  of  their  commission  had  taken  up  all  manner  of  provisions  without 
ever  paying  for  them,  the  king  caused  a  strict  inquiry  to  be  made,  and  some  of 
the  most  notorious  offenders  were  hanged,  and  others  condemned  to  pay  great 
fines.' — Ibid.  iii. 


480  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

BOOK  IV.  itself  the  most  down-trodden.     If  it  be  well,  said  the  Chart- 

Chap.  4.  ' 

ist  of  that  day,  that  men  should  be  equal  in  the  sight  of 

God  ^nd  the  law,  why  should  their  equality  end  there  ? 
Why  should  the  labour  of  the  poor  be  so  cheap,  seeing  the 
rich  can  well  afford  to  pay  a  better  price  for  ,it?  Why 
should  there  be  a  trace  of  villenage  left  among  us,  seeing 
the  powerful  have  no  need  of  villenage  ?  Yea,  why  should 
not  the  time  come  for  a  redistribution  of  wealth,  seeing  it 
has  long  since  drifted  away  from  the  many,  and  become 
enormous  in  the  hands  of  a  few  ?  Had  not  the  old  Hebrews 
their  year  of  jubilee,  when  the  slave  ceased  to  be  a  slave, 
and  the  unequal  were  unequal  no  longer  ?  If  we  are  all  of 
one  stock,  why  are  we  not  one  brotherhood  ?  If  we  are  all 
of  the  same  family,  why  are  we  not  in  the  same  condition  ? 
If  equality  was  the  rule  in  the  first  and  the  best  times,  why 
should  it  not  be  the  rule  now  ?  Such  are  some  of  the  ques- 
tions which  were  seething  in  the  rude  mass  of  mind  in  this 
country  in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  which 
prompted  the  great  outbreak  associated  in  the  history  of 
that  century  with  the  name  of  Walter  the  Tyler.  The  well- 
known  distich  on  the  lips  of  the  commonalty  of  that  time 
gives  us  at  once  this  phase  of  thinking : — 

When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ? 

insurrcc-  AH  our  Mstories  relate,  that  soon  after  the  accession  of 

fe  T°/ier.  Eichard  H.  the  embarrassments  of  the  government  led  to 
the  imposition  of  a  poll-tax — consisting  of  a  certain  sum  to 
be  paid  by  every  adult  person,  of  either  sex,  according  to 
condition ;  that  this  tax  was  in  great  part  farmed  by  certain 
collectors  ;  that  the  discontent  excited  by  this  measure  was 
great,  especially  among  the  lower  classes ;  that  the  men 
of  Essex,  led  by  a  baker  of  Fobbing,  were  the  first  to 
oppose  the  collectors  by  force ;  that  the  attempts  made  to 
suppress  this  disorder  only  multiplied  insurgents,  and  caused 
the  destruction  of  a  grand  jury  who  were  finding  indict- 
ments against  some  of  the  leaders  ;  that  the  rudeness  of  a 
collector  towards  the  daughter  of  one  Walter,  a  *  tyler  '  at 
Dartford,  provoked  the  father  to  strike  the  ruffian  a  blow 


1»0LITICAL  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  481 

with  his  hammer,  of  which  he  instantly  expired  ;  that  Wat  ^^^k  iv. 

suddenly  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  multitude  of  people     

possessed  with  the  idea  of  compelling  the  government  to 
abandon  this  obnoxious  tax,  and  to  rule  the  poor  commons 
more  justly  and  humanely ;  that  this  multitude  took  pos- 
session of  London,  acquitted  themselves  for  a  while  peace- 
ably and  orderly,  but  soon  grew  unmanageable,  and  com- 
mitted great  atrocities ;  that  "Walworth  the  mayor,  in  a 
burst  of  passion,  during  a  conference  in  Smithfield,  gave 
Wat  his  death  blow  ;  and  that  after  that,  his  followers  were 
dispersed,  and  many  of  them  hanged. 

That  this  outbreak  seemed  to  be  a  failure — worse  than 
a  failure — does  not  detract  from  its  significance.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  great  effects  ever  come  from  small 
causes.  Causes  are  always  as  great  as  their  effects,  and 
greater.  The  last  apparent  cause  may  seem  to  be  trivial, 
but  it  has  come  in  the  train  of  predisposing  causes  which 
were  adequate  to  the  result.  It  is  a  spark  only  that  seems 
to  do  the  mischief ;  but  the  spark  would  have  been  harm- 
less if  the  combustible  material  had  not  been  there.  The 
explosion  in  this  case  came,  not  from  the  baker  at  Fobbing, 
not  from  the  '  tyler  '  in  Dartford,  but  from  the  discontents 
which  were  everywhere  ready  to  burst  into  a  flame.  Such  g.„nifi. 
feeling  was  the  feeling  existing  in  nearly  every  state  of  ^S?eak!^^ 
Europe.  France  and  Flanders  had  been  recently  exposed 
to  excesses  of  the  kind  which  now  broke  upon  England. 
Governments  had  everywhere  become  more  costly ;  and, 
through  corruption  or  inexperience,  were  apparently  most 
improvident ;  while  the  intelligence  diffused  among  the  peo- 
ple by  a  more  prosperous  industry,  had  disqualified  them 
for  a  ready  acquiescence  in  such  a  course  of  things.  The 
result  was  a  strong  antagonism  in  many  quarters  between 
the  governing  and  the  governed.  Let  the  last  remains  of 
villenage  come  to  an  end ;  let  the  rent  for  land  in  future 
be  a  fixed  money  payment,  not  a  personal  service  ;  and  let 
trade  in  markets  and  fairs  be  free  from  vexatious  tolls  and 
imposts- — these  were  the  first  demands  of  the  insurgents 
under  Wat  Tyler.  K  we  may  credit  their  enemies,  their 
subsequent  projects  were  in  many  respects  as  foolish  as 
Vol.  I.— 31 


482  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

BOOK  IV.  their  deeds  were  reprehensible  ;  but  tlie  belief  that  public 

affairs  were   badly  managed,  and   that   they  might    and 

ought  to  be  otherwise  managed,  was  not  the  less  strong 
because  the  power  to  articulate  that  conviction  clearly  and 
wisely  was  wanting.  From  that  conviction  came  the  insur- 
rection ;  and  to  that  conviction,  more  intelligently  directed  in 
other  men,  and  in  other  circumstances,  this  land  owes  the 
changes  which  have  made  it  the  home  of  a  free  people  for 
so  many  centuries.  Tlie  grievances  complained  of  by  Wat 
Tyler  and  his  followers  were  real,  the  great  misfortune  of 
these  people — a  misfortune  by  no  means  uncommon — was, 
that  they  did  not  know  how  to  seek  the  best  ends  by  the 
right  irieans."^ 

*  Sir  Hugh  Segrave,  the  lord  treasurer,  addressing  parliament  at  its  opening, 
on  Nov.  3rd,  1381,  said,  '  among  other  things  that  in  the  late  rebellion  the  king 
had  been  forced  to  grant  the  insurgents  letters  patent,  under  the  great  seal,  en- 
.  franchising  to  a  considerable  extent  those  who  were  only  bond  tenants  and  vil- 
leins of  the  realm  ;  for  which  the  king,  knowing  them  to  be  against  law,  desires 
them  to  seek  a  remedy,  and  to  provide  for  the  confirmation  or  the  revocation 
thereof.'  Richard  professed  himself  willing  to  do  as  he  had  promised,  with  the 
consent  of  parliament.  The  lords  and  commons  resolve  unanimously  :  '  That  all 
grants  of  liberties  and  manumission  to  the  said  villeins  and  bond-tenants,  ob- 
tained by  force,  are  in  disinherison  of  them  the  lords  and  commons,  and  to  the 
destruction  of  the  realm,  and  therefore  null  and  void.'  This  House  of  Commons, 
however,  complained  of  many  abuses  of  the  government  as  having  led  to  the  late 
commotions,  '  and  presented  many  petitions  on  grievances,  and  for  a  general  grace 
and  pardon,  stating  that,  considering  the  rancour  of  the  people,  they  neither 
dare  nor  will  grant  any  tallage.'  At  length  a  subsidy  was  obtained,  but 
not  without  the  'grace  and  pardon.' — Pari,  and  Councils  of  Eng.  144, 
145. 

Some  of  my  readers  will  be  interested  in  knowing  that  Simon  de  Montfort, 
who  gave  us  our  first  House  of  Commons,  was  really  a  man  of  the  sort  that  Laud 
and  Strafford  would  have  branded  as  a  Puritan  ;  and  that  archbishop  Langton, 
who  did  so  much  towards  procuring  the  Great  Charter  for  Englishmen,  was  the 
author  of  that  fine  church  hymn,  Veni  Creator  Spiritus.  But  these  facts  have 
become  known  through  publications  which  ha  e  only  recently  appeared.  So 
religion  and  liberty  have  been  helpers  of  each  other  from  times  long  past  in 
our  history. — See  Monumenta  Franciscana^  Introd.  xciv. ;  and  SpicUegium 
Solesmense,  Domino  J.  B.  Pitra.     British  Quarterly  Review^  vol.  xiv.  568. 


I 


CHAPTEK  V. 


KLNa  JOH]S-   TO   THE   ACCESSION   OF   HENEY   IV. 

]N^  fi-eneral,  ambition  must  be  wise  to  secure  its  obiects —  book  iv. 

.  .,,  ,  ....,,         Chap.  5. 

Wiser  still  to  perpetuate  the  acquisitions  it  has  made.     

-rrn  1  •      .  ,     T  .  Cnlminat- 

Where  success  has  been  great,  it  is  easy  to  believe  it  may  ing p«>int in 
be  2:reater.    Hence  the  excess  which  brinsis  reaction.    Inno-  of  the  papal 

'-'  *-■  power. 

cent  III.  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  sagacious  of  the' 
pontiffs.  But  his  course  towards  England  brought  the  papal 
authority  to  its  culmination  in  our  history.  The  vassalage 
which  he  imposed  on  king  John,  and  the  manner  in  which 
he  opposed  himself  to  the  feeling  of  the  nation  in  condemn- 
ing the  Great  Charter,  and  in  excommunicating  its  authors, 
suggested  lessons  which  were  not  to  be  forgotten.  In  his 
person,  the  see  of  Rome  had  affected  to  be  the  arbiter  of  all 
rights,  whether  as  set  forth  by  sovereign  or  subject.  Sov- 
ereign and  subject  came  to  feel  that  this  monstrous  priest-rule 
was  an  error  and  a  mischief,  and  that  as  such  it  should  be  re- 
sisted. But  resistance  on  this  ground,  which  nearly  all  men 
were  ready  to  approve,  prepared  the  way  for  resistance  on 
other  grounds,  where  the  justice  of  the  proceeding  was  not 
so  obvious.  The  idea  of  resistance,  even  in  that  quarter, 
became  familiar  to  the  mind  of  the  highest  and  the  lowest. 
It  came  to  be  a  matter  beyond  doubt  that  the  infallibility 
of  the  pope  must  have  its  limits  ;  and  so  the  question,  the 
dangerous  question,  came  up — what  are  those  limits  ?  In  the 
struggle  of  parties,  those  on  whose  side  the  thunders  of  the 
Vatican  were  wielded,  were  disposed  to  assign  to  them  a  great 
authority ;  while  those  to  whom  they  \tere  opposed,  were 
found  to  be  capable  of  treating  them  very  lightly.    By  de- 


484  ENGLISH   AND   NORMANS. 

^cn^Y.Y.'  gi'ees,  all  parties  learn  to  regard  these  fulminations  as  instm- 
ments  of  rule  possessing  little  strength  except  as  derived 
from  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  age. 
T^eioveof  The  succcssors  of  Innocent  III.  often  appealed  to  his 
*kclofthe  ^^^i^^>  ^^^  *^^^  tune  to  act  upon  them  for  purposes  of  am- 
Powe/  hition  had  passed.  Still,  they  had  their  uses.  They  served 
to  give  an  appearance  of  moderation  and  plausibility  to  the 
interferences  of  the  papacy  in  matters  deemed  properly 
ecclesiastical : — and  it  became  a  tacit  maxim  with  the  court 
of  Eome,  to  be  content  with  less  power  than  formerly,  if  the 
power  retained  should  only  prove  to  be  sufficient  to  ensure  a 
satisfactory  revenue.  So  a  habit  of  low  rapacity  came  into 
the  place  of  the  higher  passion.  The  ecclesiastical  history 
of  England  from  this  time  to  the  commencement  of  the 
Eeformatioi},  consists — in  so  far  as  the  relation  of  this  coun- 
try to  Rome  is  concerned — in  a  constant  struggle  on  the 
part  of  the  popes  to  enrich  themselves,  as  far  as  possible, 
from  the  revenues  of  the  English  church  ;  and  on  the  part 
of  the  crown,  of  the  lay  patrons,  and  of  the  clergy  gene- 
rally, to  protect  themselves  against  this  war  of  spoliation. 
Jhe  ^ric^  ^^^  grounds  on  which  these  pretensions  rested  have  been 
lltionJ^'^  stated,  viz. — that  the  pope  is  th©  head  of  the  universal 
churches,  ehurcli ;  that  as  such  the  dignity  of  himself  and  of  his  court 
must  be  sustained  ;  that  the  means  to  this  end  must  come 
from  the  revenues  of  the  churches  owning  his  authority ; 
that  it  pertains  to  him  to  take  cognizance  of  the  revenue 
of  the  order  of  men  specially  subject  to  him,  and  to  judge 
as  to  the  best  method  of  applying  it  to  its  proper  uses  ;  and 
that  the  contributions  required  to  be  paid  into  his  treasury, 
were  not  greater  than  were  necessary  to  make  suitable  pro- 
vision for  himself,  and  for  the  persons  whose  services  were 
indispensable  to  the  administration  of  the  affairs  entrusted 
to  him.^ 

The  reply  made  was — that  no  one  questioned  the  supreme 
authority  vested  in  the  pontiff  in  respect  to  matters  ecclesi- 
astical and  spiritual  j  that  no  good  Christian  could  wish  to 
see  the  spiritual  head  of  Christendom  deficient  in  regard  to 
the  means  of  upholding  his  proper  dignity,  and  rewarding 

*  See  pp.  347-350. 


RELIGIOUS  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  485 

reasonably  the  persons  occupied  in  affairs  falling  properly  book  iv 

beneath  his  oversight ;  but,  from  some  cause,  it  was  only     

too  manifest,  that  the  papal  influence  was  always  present 
where  the  question  of  money  might  be  raised  ;  that,  in  fact, 
the  popes  were  surrounded  by  men  whose  avarice  was  insa- 
tiable ;  and  that  to  enrich  these  persons,  and  others  depend- 
ing on  them,  the  pontiffs  had  shown  themselves  prepared  to 
lay  their  hands  on  the  revenues  of  the  church  upon  a  scale 
which  threatened  to  transfer  the  greater  part  of  the  wealth 
of  the  country  into  the  hands  of  foreigners — men  who  often 
failed  to  render  the  slightest  service  in  return  for  the  emol- 
uments so  bestowed  upon  them. 

The  expedients  by  which  the  popes  contrived  to  acquire  Peter's 
the  virtual  command  of  so  much  wealth  were  various.  The  ^^'^' 
contribution  which  bore  the  name  of  '  Peter's  pence '  was 
the  least  considerable  of  their  gains  from  this  country.  This 
payment  was  as  old  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  times.  It  was 
designed  at  first,  to  constitute  a  fund  for  the  relief  of  Eng- 
lish pilgrims.  It  is  said  to  have  consisted  at  that  time  of  a 
tax  of  one  penny  on  every  house  of  a  certain  value.  But  it 
soon  came  to  be  a  payment  in  a  fixed  sum — and  it  remained 
the  same  sum  for  centuries,  uninfluenced  by  the  increase  of 
houses  or  of  wealth.  The  annual  payment  was  about  2001. 
The  popes  flattered  themselves  that  it  would  be  possible  to 
return  to  the  old  custom  of  rating  the  householders,  and  to 
realize  a  much  larger  amount  by  that  means.  But  the 
attempt  was  resisted,  and  the  resistance  prevailed. 

One  demand  of  the  Roman  see,  particularly  odious  to  King  John's 
the  people,  was  more  honoured  than  it  should  have  been  money, 
for  more  than  a  century  in  our  history.  We  refer  to  the 
annual  payment  of  a  thousand  marks,  promised  for  himself 
and  his  successors  by  king  John,  when  that  monarch  con- 
sented to  receive  his  kingdom  as  a  fief  from  the  hands  of 
Innocent  III.  It  is  true,  this  payment  was  by  no  means 
regularly  made.  It  w^as  dispensed  with  wdien  the  favour  of 
his  holiness  might  be  dispensed  with,  and  it  was  observed 
when  the  observance  was  felt  from  special  circumstances  to 
be  expedient.  In  1366  Edward  III.  had  been  a  defaulter  in 
this  respect  for  more  than  thirty  years.    In  that  year  Urban 


sors. 


486  ENGLISH  AND   NORMANS. 

^Cn5.^6^"  ^'  <iemanded  the  payment  of  these  aiTears.  The  king  laid 
the  menacing  letter  of  the  pope  before  his  parliament,  and 
the  lords,  the  commons,  and  the  clergy,  were  unanimous  in 
repudiating  the  papal  claim.  From  that  time  we  hear  no 
more  of  the  '  census,'  as  it  was  called  ;  and  with  the  census 
fell  the  more  harmless  payment  of  Peter's  pence.* 

But  the  two  great  sources  of  wealth  to  the  papal  see  still 
remained  untouched — ^these  consisted  in  the  custom  of '  pro- 
visors,'  and  in  the  claim  on  the  '  first-fruits  '  of  vacant  bene- 
fices. 

of'provi-^™  The  nominal  appointment  to  a  vacant  bishopric  rested 
with  the  monks  or  chapters  in  each  cathedral.  But,  for  a 
while,  the  approval  of  the  archbishop  was  necessary  to  give 
validity  to  every  election  of  .a  bishop.  By  degrees,  both 
chapters  and  metropolitans  were  virtually  superseded,  and 
the  real  choice  in  such  cases  came  to  be  a  sort  of  alternate 
compact  between  the  crown  and  the  papacy.  The  king 
was  sometimes  greatly  annoyed  on  finding  that  the  pope 
took  exception  to  the  man  of  his  choice  ;  but  in  general  our 
monarchs  appear  to  have  been  less  offended  by  this  sort  of 
interference  than  their  subjects.  It  was  felt,  that  any  at- 
tempt to  ignore  the  pretension  of  the  Koman  see  in  such 
cases,  backed,  as  it  would  be  sure  to  be,  by  the  chapters, 
must  lead  to  endless  discussion ;  and  it  came  at  length  to  be 
pretty  well  understood,  that  concession  on  one  side  to-day, 
might  be  expected  to  ensure  concession  on  the  other  side  to- 
morrow. The  pontiffs  insisted  that  it  pertained  to  them  to 
make  *  provision  ' — hence  the  technical  term  '  provisors  ' — 
for  all  vacant  bishoprics.  But  the  persons  so  provided,  were 
in  some  cases  commended  by  the  king,  and  approved  by 
the  pope ;  in  others,  they  were  chosen  by  the  pope,  and 
accepted  by  the  king ;  and  in  all  cases  the  new  bishop  was 
required  to  confess  that  his  temporalities  were  received, 
from  the  crown,  and  not  from  the  papacy.  It  will  be  seen, 
however,  that  the  field  of  patronage  thus  open  to  the  see  of 
Rome  was  enormous.  In  the  distribution  of  episcopal  wealth 
and  power,  the  authority  of  the  pope  was  placed  fully 
abreast  with  that  of  crowned  heads,  from  one  end  of  Chris- 

*  Collier's  £ccles.  Hist.  I  560. 


RELIGIOUS   LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  .  487 

tendom  to  the  other.    The  division  of  the  spoil  was  not  the  book  iv. 

same  in  all  places,  or  at  all  times  ;  but  the  partnership  was     

a  reality,  though  of  a  sort  which  left  each  partner  to  en- 
croach on  the  profits  of  the  other  by  almost  any  expedient 
that  might  be  deemed  favourable  to  that  end. 

But  if  the  pope  might  provide  in  this  manner  for  the 
highest  cures  in  the  church — why  not  for  the  subordinate  ? 
The  question  was  natural ;  it  soon  arose  ;  and,  in  fact,  the 
popular  complaint  at  this  time  had  reference  much  less  to 
what  was  done  in  relation  to  bishoprics,  than  to  the  manner 
in  which  even  the  lower  offices  and  emoluments  of  the 
church  were  made  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  foreigners.  In 
this  department  the  evil  roused  the  jealousy  and  indignation 
of  the  entire  class  of  lay  patrons,  and  the  people  at  large 
saw  its  effects  brought  home  to  their  own  doors.  The  crown 
was  usually  powerful  enough  to  compete  with  the  papacy  in 
relation  to  bishoprics,  but  the  antagonism  between  lay 
patrons  and  the  pontiffs,  was  generally  by  no  means  an 
antagonism  between  equals. 

]^or  was  it  enough  that  the  custom  of  '  provisors  '  ena-  The  first- 
bled  these  parties  to  reward  their  servants  and  dependents,  ^^ 
by  raising  them  to  places  of  authority  and  opulence.  By 
means  of  another  custom,  the  first  year's  income  from  the 
larger  benefices,  in  the  case  of  persons  so  promoted,  passed 
to  the  papal  treasury.  This  is  the  branch  of  revenue  which 
bore  the  .name  of  ^first-fruits.'  Gregory  the  Great  had  de- 
nounced all  such  payments  as  simony.  But  the  voluntary 
offering  made  by  an  ecclesiastic  entering  upon  a  benefice  in 
his  time,  had  come  to  be  a  regular  and  definite  tax  in  the 
thirteenth  century  ;  and  the  payment  in  such  cases,  instead 
of  being  made  to  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  was  often  made 
to  the  pope.  By  degrees,  the  popes  learnt  to  assert  a  claim 
on  the  first-fruits  of  all  vacant  livings.  But  this  was  a  pre- 
tension which  it  was  felt  could  not  be  prudently  urged 
except  under  the  plea  of  special  need,  and,  even  then,  only 
within  certain  limits,  in  respect  to  time  and  territory. 
Clement  Y.  made  a  demand  of  this  kind  on  the  English 
church  for  two  years  ;  John  XXII.  for  three  years.  Licence 
was  also  often  granted  to  particular  bishops  to  exact  the 


488 


ENGLISH  Ainy  NORMANS. 


BOOK  IV. 
Chap.  5. 


Usage  of 
commen- 
dams — 
general  cor- 
ruptness. 


How  eccle- 
siastical 
diplomacy 
was  ma- 
naged. 


first-fruits,  for  some  special  reasons,  from  all  livings  that 
should  become  vacant  in  their  province  during  certain  years 
ensuing. 

But  these  were  all  crooked  expedients.  The  government 
based  upon  them  was  not  natural.  Corruption  could  not 
exist  in  such  forms  without  diffusing  itself  further,  and  in 
fact  it  was  found  everywhere.*  Men  were  introduced  to 
vacant  livings  by  what  was  called  '■  commendam' — that  is, 
were  commended  as  fit  persons  to  hold  the  cure  until  the 
person  designed  to  occupy  it  permanently  should  be  ap- 
pointed. But,  under  various  pretences,  these  commendam 
appointments  were  often  made  to  continue  for  years,  some- 
times for  a  whole  lifetime.  The  election  of  an  abbot  fur- 
nished the  same  occasion  for  papal  interference.  Appeals 
from  authorities  in  this  country  to  the  authority  of  Rome, 
arose  from  grounds  innumerable,  and  in  no  quarter,  if  the 
opinion  common  to  the  age  may  be  credited,  was  bribery  so 
all-pervading  and  dominant  as  in  the  papal  court.  In 
Rome,  according  to  the  current  language  of  the  time,  every- 
thing might  be  obtained  by  money,  nothing  without  it.f 

On  occasions,  the  popes  proceeded  so  far  as  to  demand 
a  rated  contribution  from  the  entire  movables  of  the  king- 
dom. On  the  goods  of  the  clergy  such  a  claim  was  often 
made.  An  incident  from  the  time  of  Henry  III.  will  serve 
to  illustrate  this  point,  and  some  others,  comprehended  in 
the  politico-ecclesiastical  machinery  of  this  period.  In 
1228,  Stephen,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  died.  The  monks 
of  Canterbury  obtained  permission  from  the  king  to  choose 
a  successor.     Their  choice  fell  on  one  of  their  own  order, 

*  Water  Reynolds,  who  was  called  to  the  see  of  Canterbury  in  the  early  part 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  returned  from  Rome  empowered  by  the  pope  to  exer- 
cise all  the  rights  pertaining  to  the  prelates  within  the  province  of  Canterbury, 
in  their  stead,  for  three  years,  and  to  select  one  preferment  for  himself  out  of 
every  cathedral  church.  He  was  also  authorized  to  remit  all  offences  committed 
withm  the  last  hundred  days,  if  duly  confessed  ;  to  restore  one  hundred  disorder- 
ly persons  to  communion  ;  and  to  absolve  two  hundred  men  from  the  sin  of  hav- 
ing laid  violent  hands  on  the  persons  of  the  clergy.  He  was  further  declared 
competent,  in  the  name  of  the  pope,  to  qualify  a  hundred  youths  of  uncanonical 
age  for  holding  benefices  with  the  cure  of  souls. — Wilkins,  ii.  483,  484.  Walter 
is  said  to  have  been  rich,  and  to  have  paid  a  high  price  for  the  ecclesiastical 
wares  with  which  he  was  thus  laden,  and  which  were  of  course  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder.  What  happened  in  his  case,  happened,  we  must  suppose,  not 
unfrequently. 

t  Wendover,  a.d.  1226.     M.  Paris,  a.d.  1236,  1247,  1253. 


RELIGIOUS   LIFE  IN   ENGLAOT).  489 

named  "Walter  de  Hemisham.    But  the  king  took  exception  book  iv. 

to  this  decision.     The  bishops,  suffragans  to  Canterbury     

also  demurred,  on  the  ground  that  tJieir  opinion  had  not 
been  taken.  Walter  appealed  from  the  king,  and  from  the 
bishops,  to  the  pontiff.  The  king  sent  his  envoys  to  sus- 
tain his  suit  in  the  papal  court.  The  pope  had  his  reasons 
for  affecting  at  first  to  favour  the  suit  of  "Walter.  The  Eng- 
lish ambassadors  felt  the  alarm  it  was  intended  they  should 
feel.  They  assured  the  pope  and  his  ministers,  that  they 
were  not  insensible  to  the  financial  difficulties  which  the 
war  in  Germany  had  entailed  on  his  holiness ;  but,  that, 
were  this  suit  only  terminated  to  the  satisfaction  of  their 
royal  master,  they  could  venture  to  promise  that  the  contri- 
bution of  a  tenth  should  be  made  to  the  papal  exchequer 
from  all  the  movables  of  England  and  Ireland.  The  pon- 
tiff now  declared  the  election  of  Walter  void.  But  he  at 
the  same  time  professed  himself  greatly  displeased  with  the 
monks  at  Canterbury  for  the  course  they  had  taken,  so 
much  so>  that  it  was  imperative  upon  him  to  punish  them, 
and  this  he  stated  he  should  do  by  superseding  their  func- 
tion, and  appointing  the  next  archbishop  himself.  This 
filled  the  English  ambassadors  with  new  alarm.  The  pro- 
motion of  some  tool  of  the  papacy  to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  . 
might  lead  to  grave  mischiefs.  It  was  now  urged  that  the 
pontiff  should  pause  in  these  proceedings  until  further  in- 
structions should  be  obtained  from  England.  In  these  in- 
structions, the  king  urged  that  Eichard,  chancellor  of  the 
diocese  of  Lincoln,  might  be  raised  to  the  primacy — adding, 
that,  should  the  pope  approve  this  choice,  the  promised 
tenth  should  be  paid.  The  pope  did  approve ;  the  papal 
legate  came  to  England  for  the  tenth ;  the  case  was  laid 
before  the  English  parliament ;  the  laity  refused  to  be  bound 
by  the  king's  promise  ;  the  clergy,  after  some  days'  hesita- 
tion, submitted  to  the  impost ;  and  the  rigour  with  which 
it  was  exacted  called  forth  loud  expressions  of  indignation. 
Ealph,  earl  of  Chester,  warned  the  collectors  not  to  appear 
on  his  domain,  and  in  such  terms  as  made  his  warning 
effectual.* 

*  Wendover,  a.d.  1228,  1229.     M.  Paris,  348-362.     Wykes,  41. 


490  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

t 

■^chap  ^5^'  T^^^^  narrative  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  tlie  net- 
PrJte^f  "^o^k  of  rival  pretension  and  intrigue  which  constituted  the 
of  Lincoln,  ^^istorj  of  the  English  church  in  its  relation  to  the  papacy 
during  the  three  centuries  which  preceded  the  Heformation. 
Innocent.  lY.  wrote  to  Kobert  Grostete,  the  celebrated 
bishop  of  Lincoln,  requiring  him  to  induct  a  child,  nephew 
to  the  pontiff,  into  a  vacant  living.  In  his  reply,  the  bishop 
was  so  bold  as  to  denounce  the  mandate  as  more  fit  to  have 
come  from  Antichrist,  or  from  Lucifer  himself,  than  from 
the  successor  of  the  apostles.  The  bishop  knew,  however, 
while  he  condemned  this  proceeding  in  such  terms,  that 
such  things  were  common  ;  and  in  his  latest  recorded  words 
— words  uttered  in  tlie  near  prospect  of  death — ^he  described 
the  court  of  Eome  as  sunk  in  avarice,  as  capable  of  all  sorts 
of  simony  and  rapine,  as  the  slave  of  luxury  and  libertinism, 
and  as  employed  in  corrupting  the  sovereigns  of  Europe 
down  to  its  own  level,  in  place  of  raising  them  to  the  purity 
of  the  Gospel.* 
Collectors  The  papal  officers  engaged  in  conducting  the  financial 

?IvenJe-^-'^  affairs  of  the  court  of  Eome  in  England  in  the  thirteenth 
the^peopie.   ccntiiry  are  said  to  have  been  more  numerous,  and  better 
organized,  than  the  agents  of  the  king's  government ;  and 
the  amount  annually  transmitted  to  Eome  from  all  sources, 
is  said  to  have  been  greater  than  that  raised  for  the  crown. 
So  odious,  accordingly,  w^ere  these  officers  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people  generally,  as  to  be  liable  to  every  sort  of  insult,  to 
*         open  assault,  and,  in  some  cases,  to  the  loss  of  life.     Com- 
plaints were  made  again  and  again  to  the  court  in  whose 
cause  these  penalties  were  incurred,  and  in   the   remon- 
strances which  followed,  the  English  were   described   as 
showing  themselves,  by  such  conduct,  to  be  more  impious 
than  the  heathen  persecutors  of  the  faithful  in  the  early 
ages  of  the  church.f 
Sfamenf        "^^^  tlicsc  officcrs,  and  their  proceedings,  were  scarcely 
them°^  ^^    more  obnoxious  to  the  people  than  to  the  parliament.     In 
the  last  parliament  of  Edward  I.  severe  measures  were  taken 
to  check  all  encroachments  of  this  description.     An  Italian 
priest  named  Testa,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  pope's 

*  Matthew  Paris,  a.d.  1253. 


KELIGIOTJS   LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  4:91 

revenue  department  in  this  country,  was  made  to  appear  book  iv. 

before  the  two  houses  of  parliament ;  was  publicly  censured ;     

was  forbidden  to  proceed  further  with  his  exactions ;  and 
was  even  commanded  to  return  moneys  in  his  possession,  for 
the  king's  use.  An  act  was  at  the  same  time  passed,  which 
became  known  as  tlie  first  act  against  '  provisors.'  It  for- 
bad, under  severe  penalties,  the  bringing  of  any  papal  '  pro- 
vision,' or  any  document  whatever,  from  the  papal  court, 
into  this  kingdom,  the  publication  of  which  might  be  in 
any  way  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  the  English  crown, 
or  of  those  subject  to  it.*  Under  Edward  II.  this  law  was 
not  a  dead  letter.  The  pope  deputed  two  prelates  to  at- 
tempt a  reconciliation  between  that  prince  and  his  queen 
Isabella.  The  two  bishops  had  sent  dispatches  before  them, 
stating  that  they  should  come  without  letters  or  instruments 
of  any  kind  that  could  be  used  to  the  prejudice  of  the  king 
or  of  his  people.  But  the  constable  of  Dover  was  instructed 
to  meet  the  bishops  on  their  landing,  and  to  remind  them  in 
the  most  distinct  and  formal  manner,  of  the  penalties  they 
would  incur  should  they  prove  to  be  the  bearers,  or  should 
th^y  hereafter  attempt  to  execute,  any  order,  to  the  injury 
of  the  king,  his  land,  or  his  subjects.f 

In  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  Edward  Ilt.complaint  on  this  g'^i'^un- 
subject  was  renewed,  and  new  measures  were  taken.  In  the  "nXr^Ed"*^ 
parliament  of  1343,  '  the  commons  of  England  made  great  ^^^^  ^"• 
complaint  of  the  provisions  and  reservations  coming  from 
the  court  of  Rome  ;  whereby  the  pope  took  up  beforehand 
the  future  vacancies  of  ecclesiastical  dignities  for  aliens, 
and  such  as  had  nothing  to  do  within  this  realm.  They 
demonstrated  to  the  king  the  manifold  inconveniences  ensu- 
ing thereby — as  the  decay  of  hospitality,  the  transporting 
of  the  treasure  of  the  realm  to  the  king's  mortal  enemies, 
the  discovering  of  the  secrets  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  utter 
discouraging,  disabling,  and  impoverishing  of  scholars, 
natives  of  the  land.  Among  other  instances  they  showed  how 
the  pope  had  secretly  granted  to  two  new  cardinals  sundry 
livings  within  the  realm  of  England,  and  particularly  to  the 
cardinal  of  Perigort  above  10,000  marks  in  yearly  collections.' 

*  Mot  Pari.  219  et  seq.  f  Rymer,  iv.  206. 


492  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^chj5  5^'  ^^^  commoners  pray  that  a  remedy  may  be  found  for  mis- 

cliiefs  to  which  they  could  not,  and  would  not,  any  longer 

submit ;  and  if  it  should  be  said  that  the  abuse  did  not 
admit  of  correction,  they  pray  the  king's  help  *  to  expel  the 
papal  power  out  of  the  realm.' 

The  king  commended  the  consideration  of  the  grievance 
to  the  two  houses.  By  the  parliament,  the  provisions  of 
the  statute  of  Edward  I.  were  reiterated,  and  made  more 
stringent,  the  substance  of  the  declaration  of  the  lords  and 
commons  being,  that  no  rescript  from  the  court  of  Kome 
should  be  in  itself  of  the  slightest  legal  value  in  the  realm 
of  England  ;  and  that  all  persons  convicted  of  introducing, 
receiving,  or  attempting  to  act  on  such  instruments,  should 
be  subject  to  the  penalty  of  forfeiture,  and  be  otherwise 
dealt  with  according  to  the  king's  pleasure.  On  this  occa- 
sion, the  lords  and  the  commons  wrote  a  joint  letter  to  his 
holiness,  stating  their  case,  and  indicating,  in  very  decisive 
terms,  their  expectations  at  his  hands.  '  Forasmuch,'  say 
they, '  most  holy  father,  as  you  cannot  well  attain  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  divers  errors  and  abuses  which  have  crept  in  among 
us,  and  may  not  be  able  to  understand  the  customs  and  cir- 
cumstances of  countries  remote  from  you,  except  as  you 
may  be  informed  by  others,  we,  who  have  a  full  intelligence 
of  all  errors  and  abuses  within  this  realm,  have  thought  fit 
to  make  known  the  same  to  your  holiness — and  especially 
of  the  divers  reservations,  provisions,  and  collations  which 
by  your  apostolic  predecessors  of  the  church  of  Rome,  and 
by  you  also  in  your  time,  most  holy  father,  have  been 
granted,  and  now  more  illegally  than  heretofore,  to  divers 
persons,  men  of  other  nations,  some  of  them  our  professed 
enemies,  having  little  or  no  knowledge  of  our  language,  or  of 
the  customs  of  those  whom  they  should  teach  and  govern, 
to  the  peril  of  many  souls,  the  great  neglect  of  the  service 
of  God,  the  decay  of  alms,  hospitality,  and  devotion,  and 
the  ruin  of  churches,  causing  charity  to  wax  cold,  tlie  good 
and  honest  natives  of  the  country  to  fail  of  promotion, 
the  cure  of  souls  to  be  disregarded,  the  pious  zeal  of  the 
people  to  be  depressed,  the  poor  scholars  of  the  land  to  be 
unrewarded,  and  the  treasure  of  this  realm  to  be  exported  in 


BELIGI0U8   LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  493 

a  manner  contrary  to  the '  intention  of  those  from  whose  book  iv. 

''  .  ,  Chap.  5. 

pious  beneficence  that  treasure   is  obtained.      All  which      

errors,  abuses,  and  scandals,  most  holy  father,  we  neither 
can  nor  ought  any  longer  to  suJffer  or  endure.  Wherefore 
we  do  most  humbly  require  that  the  said  scandals,  abuses, 
and  errors,  may  of  your  great  prudence  be  thoroughly  con- 
sidered, and  that  such  reservations,  provisions,  and  colla- 
tions may  be  utterly  repealed  ;  that  such  practices  be  hence- 
forth unknown  among  tis  ;  that  so  the  said  benefices,  edifices, 
offices,  and  rights,  may  in  future  be  supplied,  occupied,  and 
governed  by  our  countrymen.  May  it  further  please  your 
holiness  to  signify  to  us  by  your  letters,  without  delay,  what 
your  pleasure  is  touching  this  lawful  request  and  demand ; 
that  we  may  diligently  do  our  part  towards  the  correction 
of  the  enormities  above  specified.'  * 

The  effect  of  this  plain-spoken  and  significant  epistle 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  all  that  its  authors  thought 
they  had  a  right  to  expect.*  The  parliament  of  the  next 
year,  taking  the  matter  more  thoroughly  into  its  own  hands, 
made  the  penalty  of  violating  their  late  statute  to  be  abju- 
ration of  the  realm,  outlawry,  or  perpetual  imprisonment. 
Seven  years  later,  the  two  houses  pushed  their  legislation 
on  this  subject  still  further ;  and  in  1353,  declared  the  man 
liable  to  the  forfeiture  of  all  his  lands  and  goods,  and  to  im- 
prisonment at  the  king's  will,  who  should  presume  to  caiTy 
any  cause  to  a  foreign  court  which  pertained  of  right  to  the 
king's  court — the  foreign  court  specially  intended  in  this 
case  being  the  court  of  Eome.  This  vexed  affair  continued 
to  occupy  the  attention  of  parliament  at  intervals  to 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  The  issue  towards 
the  close  of  that  period  was  a  sort  of  compromise  between 
the  king  and  Gregory  IX.,  which  was  far  from  being  satis- 
factory to  either  lords  or  commons,  f 

Many  causes  contributed  to  this  perpetual  embroilment.  Effect  of 
and  to  the  bitterness  by  which  it  was  characterized  on  the  dencc  of  the 
part  of  our  forefathers.     Among  the  most  conspicuous  of  AviSion— 
these  causes  was  the  forced  residence  of  the  pope's  in  France, 

*  Rot.  Pari.  ii.  144,  155.     Barnes's  Edward  III. 

•j-  Rymer,  vii.  83  et  seq.     Rot.  Pari.  ii.  337  et  seq.     Statutes  of  the  Realm. 


494  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^c2S  5^*  fc>llowed,  as  it  was,  by  tlie  papal  schism.     In  the  early  part 

of  the  fourteenth  century,  Philip  the  Fair,  of  France,  as  the 

result  of  some  passionate  disagreements  with  the  see  of 
Rome,  removed  the  papal  court  to  Avignon.  By  this 
policy,  Philip  succeeded  in  assigning  the  office  itself  to 
Frenchmen.  Tliis  exile  of  the  popes  from  Rome  lasted  sev- 
enty years,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  Italians,  was  the 
Babylonish  captivity  of  the  papacy.  Clement  Y. ;  John 
XXn. ;  Benedict  XII. ;  Clement  YI. ;  Innocent  YJI. ; 
Urban  Y. ;  and  Gregory  IX. — all  succeeded  each  other  at 
Avignon,  and  all  were  Frenchmen.  The  cardinals,  more- 
over, as  might  be  expected,  were  mostly  of  that  nation. 
Thus  the  papacy  was  virtually  in  the  hands  of  France, 
while  France  had  come  to  be  regarded,  as  the  great  enemy 
of  England.  In  the  eyes  of  Englishmen  at  that  time,  the 
court  at  Avignon  and  the  court  at  Paris  were  one  ;  while 
the  creatures  and  adherents  of  the  papacy  in  this  country, 
from  their  being  to  a  large  e:si;ent  Frenchmen,  or  Italians 
who  had  become  resident  in  France,  were  naturally  regarded 
as  doing  the  work  of  spies,  and  as  enriching  the  chief  enemy 
of  the  king  and  kingdom  by  all  their  arts  of  spoliation.  The 
Avignon  popes,  moreover,  were  not  men  to  abate  these 
natural  causes  of  disaffection  by  their  personal  influence. 
Mosheim  speaks  of  them  as  men  who  '  having  no  other  end 
'  in  view  than  the  mere  acquisition  of  riches,  excited  a  gene- 

ral hatred   against  the  Roman  see,  and  thereby  greatly 
weakened  the  papal  empire,  which  had  been  visibly  on  the 
decline  since  the  time  of -Boniface.' 
And  of  When  the  captivity  ended,  the  schism  began.     In  1378, 

in  the  pa-  ou  the  death  of  Gregory  XI.  the  cardinals  assembled  to 
choose  a  successor.  But  the  populace  of  Rome,  aware  that 
three-fourths  of  the  cardinals  were  still  Frenchmen,  and 
indignant  that  the  tiara  had  been  so  long  awarded  to  eccle- 
siastics of  that  nation,  assembled  in  great  numbers  about 
the  place  of  meeting,  and  by  threats  induced  the  cardinals 
to  choose  an  Italian.  The  object  of  their  choice  was  Bar- 
tholomew de  Pregnano,  bishop  of  Bari,  who  assumed  the 
title  of  Urban  YI.  But  some  of  the  leading  cardinals  retired 
from  Rome  soon  afterwards,  and  at  Fondi,  a  city  in  the 


EELIGIOUS   LIFE  IN   ENGLAND.  495 

N"eapolitaii  territory,  they  elected  tlie  cardinal  of  Geneva  book  iv. 

in  the  place  of  the  archbishop  of  Bari,  and  this  rival  pope     

assumed  the  name  of  Clement  YII.  The  plea  nrged  in  sup- 
port of  this  proceeding  was,  that  the  former  election  had 
been  the  reeuit  of  intimidation.  France,  and  her  allies — ^in- 
cluding Spain,  Sicily,  and  Cyprus — gave  their  adhesion  to 
Clement;  England  and  the  rest  of  Europe,  proclaimed 
themselves  Urbanists.  As  Europe  was  then  divided  in  its 
judgment  concerning  these  rival  pontiffs,  so  the  question 
between  them  has  remained  an  undecided  question  to  this 
day.  During  the  next  half  century  the  church  had  two, 
sometimes  three,  heads  at  the  same  time,  each  busy  in  his 
plottings,  and  in  thundering  all  sorts  of  anathemas  against 
the  other. 

The  history  of  the  Avignon  popes  showed  that  the  sup- 
posed representative  of  Deity  on  earth  might  become  a  pris- 
oner in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Christendom, 
in  place  of  ruling  as  a  sovereign  independently  of  all  such 
rulers,  and  above  them  all.  The  schism  was  a  still  deeper  * 
shock  to  the  opinion  and  feeling  of  the  age.  "With  men  of 
sense,  it  might  well  seem  easier  to  account  priestly  infallibility 
a  dream,  than  to  regard  it  as  a  quality  that  might  be  competed 
for  by  two  or  three  claimants  at  a  time.  The  presence  of  the 
papal  court  in  the  once  quiet  city  of  Avignon,  converted  it 
into  the  haunt  and  home  of  every  abomination ;  and  the  more 
northern  nations  could  judge  of  the  virtues  which  followed  in 
the  track  of  the  chief  pastor  of  the  church,  without  crossing 
the  Alps  to  acquire  that  kind  of  knowledge.  Furthermore, 
as  this  change  of  home  brought  with  it  both  weakness  and 
poverty,  it  furnished  new  pleas  on  the  side  of  greater  artifice 
with  a  view  to  greater  exactions.  The  thunders  which  the 
rival  popes  hurled  at  each  other,  were  the  natural  emblems 
of  the  wars  and  the  rumours  of  wars  with  which  their  con- 
tentions had  filled  all  Europe.  So  both  parties  became 
known  by  their  fruits,  fruits  which  bespoke  the  presence 
of  the  wolf,  it  was  said,  rather  than  of  the  shepherd. 

Such  was  the  political  machinerv  of  the  ecclesiastical  Retrospect 

•*■  «/  Ifiws  in 

system  of  Europe  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  revolutions. 
and  such  are  some  of  the  more  potent  influences  then  in 


496  ENGLISH  AND  NOBl^IANS. 

^cn^.^s!"*  action  upon  it — to  what  issue  did  it  tend?  In  attempting 
to  answer  this  question  it  behoves  us  to  hear  in  mind  that 
depraved  men  rarely  cease  to  be  depraved  men.  Such  in- 
stances occur,  but  the  J  are  exceptional.  But  if  a  self-re- 
formed man  is  a  phenomenon  rarely  seen,  still  less  may  we 
hope  to  see  a  community  or  a  corporation  become  self-puri- 
fied. In  the  fourteenth  century  all  things  seem  to  point  to 
reform  or  ruin.  But  there  was  room  to  fear  that  reform 
would  be  long  resisted,  even  at  the  hazard  of  the  ruin. 
When  do  the  crafty  learn  to  be  ingenuous  ?  When  do  the 
avaricious  learn  to  eschew  the  lust  of  gain  ?  What  will  not 
an  individual  do,  still  more  what  will  not  corporate  bodies 
do,  rather  than  submit  to  such  self-crucifixion  ?  It  is  no 
marvel  that  Wyclifie,  and  Huss,  and  Jerome  should  give 
signs  of  the  coming  change.  But  as  little  marvellous  is  it, 
to  those  who  look  beneath  the  surface,  that  the  course  of 
this  change  should  have  been  so  unequal  and  so  slow,  and 
that  to  the  last  it  should  have  been  so  limited.  It  is  a  law 
of  Providence,  that  change  in  bodies  should  be  slow  when 
the  body  is  great.  I^or  is  it  less  a  law  that  what  the  great 
heart  of  humanity  has  been  long  constructing,  it  must  be  long 
in  taking  to  pieces,  and  in  casting  utterly  away.  Eevolu- 
tions,  like  creation,  have  their  laws — ^laws  which  determine 
their  time,  and  speed,  and  mode,  and  result.  Good  men 
would  fain  be  fast  workers,  but  Providence  is  ever  schooling 
them  into  two  great  lessons — to  work  and  to  wait.  It  is  not 
always  remembered,  that  were  the  quicker  production  of 
good  possible,  the  quicker  production  of  evil  would 
be  possible;  that  to  extrude  from  humanity  the  tenden- 
cies which  give  permanence  to  the  bad,  would  be  to 
leave  little  ground  for  permanence  to  the  contrary  of  the 
bad.  Mind  has  its  laws  of  opposite  forces,  in  common 
with  matter ;  and  the  power  of  habit,  so  far  as  our  experi- 
ence extends,  cannot  exist  for  good,  without  existing  also 
for  the  not-good.  Did  men  change  their  religion  easily, 
we  might  expect  them  to  change  it  often — ^much  too  often. 
Distinction         In  tliis  chapter,  we  have  seen,  so  far,  somethinor  of  the 

between  the  .  -x       -  c^     y         >  T 

hierarchy     rcligious  complcxiou  01  tlic  timcs  as  presented  m  the  upper 
people.        stratum  of  society,  where  the  chief  actors  are  popes  and 


EELIGIOrS   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  497 

princes,  ambitious  churchmen  and  the  more  wealthy  among  bck^k  rv. 

the  laity.    Of  course  in  connexion  with  this  strife  about  the     

distribution  of  church  offices  and  church  revenues,  something 
much  more  religious  existed  even  in  that  level  of  society. 
But  the  laymen  and  churchmen,  the  women  and  the  men, 
in  such  connexions,  who  possessed  a  truly  religious  spirit, 
come  but  rarely  in  sight,  and  are  but  little  Iniown  to  his- 
tory. Beneath  this  upper  stratum,  however,  there  was  a 
middle,  and  a  lower,  and  what  is  to  be  found  there  ? 

To  find  the  lowest  ^rade  in  the  population  of  the  thir-  condition 

,       T  .        1      ,  of  tenant 

teenth  century  we  must  look  to  quarters  m  the  largest  towns  and  la- 
and  cities.     In  the  countiw,  the  baron  knew  his  tenants  and  the  counties 

•^  ■'  ...  ^"  ^'^^  tnir- 

villeins,  and  could  not  dispense  with  their  services.  The  teenth  cen- 
relation  between  these  parties  were  comparatively  under- 
stood and  settled.  Each  needed  service  from  the  other,  and 
the  service  needed  was  not  to  be  expected  from  any  other 
quarter.  "While  the  ties  which  linked  the  feudal  lord  to  his 
dependents  were  of  this  nature,  those  which  linked  the 
religious  houses  to  their  numerous  tenantry  and  labourers 
were  still  more  intimate.  Servile,  accordingly,  in  many 
respects,  as  the  condition  of  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  may 
have  been,  their  position  was  such  on  the  whole  as  to  secure 
them  an  oversight  from  their  superiors,  which  was  favour- 
able, in  many  ways,  to  their  comfort,  intelligence,  and  inde- 
pendence. In  this  manner,  in  agricultural  districts,  the  sta- 
bility of  things  with  the  upper  classes  extended  itself  to  the 
lower.  Times  might  be  better  or  worse,  but  the  lord  and 
his  servant  shared  them  together. 

It  was  otherwise,  however,  in  towns.     In  such  places,  citypopu- 
the  crowd  was  the  greatest,  and  the  isolation  was  the  great-  JheXr-'' 
est.     Every  man  there  was  expected  to  be  more  self-reliant  f^^J 
than  in  the  country,  and  he  became  so,  but  not  always  to 
his  advantage.     Men  who  knew  how  to  use  this  liberty, 
becoming  industrious,  self-governed,  virtuous,  rose  above 
the  operative  class  elsewhere  in  intelligence,  and  in  familiar- 
ity with  home  enjoyments.     Men  who  abused  this  liberty, 
becoming  idle  and  vicious,  suffered  the  penalty  of  their 
ways,  with  none  to  pity  or  reclaim  them.     It  thus  came  to 
pass,  that  the  town  populations  of  those  times  consisted  of 
Vol.  I.— 32 


teenth  ccn- 


498  ENGLISH   AND   NORIMANS. 

BOOK  IV.  two   classes,  the  well-conducted  and  well-to-do  ;   and  the 

Chap.  5.  '  ' 

ill-conducted,  who  were  huddled  together  in  filth,  disease, 

and  misery.  In  regard  to  religion,  the  first  class  was  much 
more  sceptical  on  such  matters  than  is  now  generally  sup- 
posed ;  while  the  second  soon  sank  down  very  far  in  igno- 
rance, superstition,  and  heathenism.  The  Crusades  had 
done  much  to  enlarge  and  liberalize  the  ideas  of  men.  The 
effect  of  those  enterprises  had  not  been  so  much  to  settle  as 
to  disturb  the  faith  of  Christendom.  It  was  seen  that  infi- 
dels could  be  virtuous  and  brave,  no  less  than  Christians. 
Everywhere  a  tendency  toward  discussion  had  grown  up. 
New  demands  were  thus  made  on  the  clergy.  If  the  scep- 
tical were  to  be  satisfied,  that  would  require  strong  prac- 
tical intelligence  ;  and  if  the  degraded  and  miserable  were 
to  be  reclaimed  and  elevated,  that  would  require  a  large 
measure  of  benevolence  and  self-denial.  It  is  evident  that 
the  clergy  of  the  age  were  not  equal  to  the  work  which  had 
thus  grown  upon  their  hands.  They  were  found  wanting, 
both  in  the  kind  of  knowledge,  and  in  the  spirit  of  self-sac- 
rifice, demanded  by  the  times.  Tliis  was  nowhere  more 
felt  than  by  some  of  the  best  men  of  their  own  order,  such 
as  Grostete,  the  pious  and  able  bishop  of  Lincoln. 

But  in  the  history  of  religion,  there  is  a  law  of  action 
and  reaction  which  becomes  visible  in  its  season.  When 
the  Christian  priesthood  became  rich  and  worldly,  mon- 
archism  arose  as  its  fitting  rebuke  ;  and  now  that  monarch- 
ism,  in  its  turn,  has  become  corrupt,  the  mendicant  orders 
make  their  appearance,  as  a  great  practical  protest  against  the 
inaptitude  and  selfishness  of  both  monk  and  priest.  This 
event  dates  from  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.* 
Origin  of  St.  Francis,  in  founding  the  order  which  has  since  borne 

dscS""'  his  name,  hoped  to  retain  what  was  good  in  the  existing 
ministries  of  the  church,  and  discarded  many  things  which 
in  his  eyes  were  only  so  much  hindrance  and  evil.  He 
saw  not  a  little  to  censure  in  the  existing  ecclesiastical  sys- 
tem.   But  his  object  was  not  so  much  to  reform  the  church, 

*  Butler's  Lives;  ^ St.  Francis  of  Assisium.''  Essays  in  Ecclesiastical  Bio- 
graphy, by  Sir  James  Stephen  ;  '  St.  Francis.'  Monwnenta  Franciscana,  edited 
by  G.  S.  Brewer,  M.A.  The  admirable  Introduction  to  the  last-mentioned  publi- 
cation deserves  the  attention  of  the  student. 


KELIGI0IJ8   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  499 

as  to  supplement  its  agencies,  and  indirectly  to  purify  and  ^^^^Y' 

elevate  them.     Popes   and  cardinals,  priests  and  monks,     

were  all  left  to  their  respective  vocations  ;  but  there  was  a  * 
work  that  should  be  done  which  none  of  them  were  doing, 
and  which  St.  Francis  commissioned  his  disciples  to  do. 

There  was  a  great  want  of  city  missionaries  in  those  days,  The  Fran- 
and  the  early  Franciscans  were  men  separated  to  that  ser-  comJdty 
vice.  In  common  with  the  priests  and  monks  of  their  time,  Mies.*^° 
they  were  not  to  be  married  men.  In  common  with  the 
monks  they  were  to  live  together  in  fraternity.  But,  unlike 
the  monks,  they  were  not  to  limit  their  religious  duty  to 
praying  for  souls  in  the  chapel  of  a  monastery,  but  were  to 
go  in  search  of  them  by  preaching,  and  by  all  humane 
offices,  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  city,  or  amidst  the  wretched 
hovels  which  housed  them  outside  the  city  gates,  or  beneath 
the  city  walls.  In  common  with  the  parochial  clergy,  they 
were  preachers,  having  the  cure  of  souls ;  but,  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  clergy,  they  made  preaching  to  be  their  great 
work,  found  their  parish  everywhere,  and  especially  where 
ignorance  and  vice,  filth  and  suffering,  were  known  to  be 
most  accumulated  and  least  disturbed.  The  wealth  of  the 
church  had  been  her  great  snare,  had  rendered  her  inefficient 
— helpless,  in  regard  to  the  great  w^ants  of  the  age,  and  the 
Franciscan,  in  consequence,  was  to  know  nothing  of  reli- 
gious endowments,  nothing  of  a  settled  revenue  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  ministry.  His  dress,  his  diet,  his  home,  all  were 
to  be  such  as  to  bespeak  him  a  poor  man,  and  to  proclaim 
him  as  the  poor  man's  minister.  He  was  to  be  the  willing 
servant  of  the  community,  especially  of  the  most  needy  and 
forgotten  portions  of  it,  and  he  was  to  depend  on  the  free 
oiferings  of  the  community  from  day  to  day  for  his  main- 
tenance. To  the  honour  of  Eomanism,  within  its  pale, 
poverty  in  the  minister  of  religion  has  never  been  a  bar  to 
the  reverence  due  to  his  office.  Hence,  in  originating  even 
such  an  institute,  brother  Francis  coufd  exact,  that  men, 
to  become  his  disciples,  should  not  only  be  men  of  fervent 
piety,  but  men  of  fair  capacity,  and  competently  learned. 
In  the  Franciscans  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
what  has  become  known  in  our  time  under  the  name  of  the 


500 


ENGLISH  AND   NORMANS. 


Settlement 
of  the  Fran- 
ciscans in 
England. 


Their  bene- 
volence. 


^ch5  5^*  "^^^^^t^^J  system,  may  be  said  to  have  been  put  upon  its 

trial. 

When  the  first  delegation  of  friars  landed  at  Dover  in 
1224,  the  authorities  took  them  for  vagrants,  or  something 
worse.  But  one  of  their  number  satisfied  the  men  in  office 
of  their  mistake,  by  making  very  light  of  being  hanged,  and 
offered  the  rope  from  his  waist  to  be  used  in  the  ceremony, 
if  no  better  should  be  available.  Such  is  the  teriiperament 
generally  given  to  men  who  have  some  mission  in  life. 
"With  the  help  of  the  scanty  fare,  and  the  sour  beer, 
obtained  at  religious  houses  on  their  way,  the  first  colony 
of  Minorites  reach  London,  and  construct  tenements  foi 
themselves  on  the  Cornhill,  near  the  Kew-gate.  The  build- 
ings are  of  the  poorest  description  imaginable,  dried  grass 
being  stuffed  into  the  crevices  to  keep  out  the  wind  and 
rain. 

In  that  age,  plague  and  leprosy  were  the  terrible  mala- 
dies, especially  among  the  crowded  populations  of  towns. 
But  leprosy  had  come  into  Europe  from  the  Holy  Land 
with  the  return  of  the  Crusaders.  Much  had  been  recorded 
concerning  it  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  It  was  the  figure 
of  what  all  men  are  by  nature.  Even  the  Incarnate  One 
was  regarded  as  taking  his  place,  in  the  language  of  pro- 
phecy, with  this  class  of  sufferers.  Hence,  while  some 
looked  on  the  leper  with  special  horror,  seeing  in  that  malady 
more  than  in  any  other  a  direct  infliction  for  sin,  the  more 
general  feeling  was  one  of  special  compassion,  and  almost 
of  religious  awe.  Persons  so  afflicted,  however,  were  as 
much  shut  off  from  society  as  they  would  have  been  among 
the  ancient  Hebrews.  "With  the  Franciscans,  these  chil- 
dren of  calamity,  and  the  hospitals  set  apart  for  them,  were 
special  objects  of  attention.  In  general,  the  friar  knew 
something  of  the  healing  art,  and  exercised  his  skill  in  that 
way  while  administering  the  consolations  of  religion.  He 
had  thus  a  double  claim  on  the  gratitude  of  the  objects  of 
his  compassion.  Of  course,  the  men  who  were  thus  to  be 
found  in  the  most  avoided  haunts  of  human  wretchedness, 
were  to  be  found  in  all  places  where  the  necessitous  were 
the  most  likely  to  be  forgotten  or  neglected. 


RELIGIOUS   LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  501 

In  their  preaching,  the  friars  eschewed  the  learned  and  ^2n^  V' 
logical  style  then  so  common.     In  their  view,  the  clergy  rj,^— — 
had  become  disqualified  for  their  work  by  their  learning,  pleaching. 
hardly  less  than  by  their  wealth.     They  were  themselves 
poor  men  preaching  to  the  poor,  and  laymen  preaching  to 
the  laity.     Their  language  was  studiously  simple.     Their 
illustrations  were  studiously  popular.     They  found  material 
for  discourse  in  the  well-known  legend,  in  dramatic  dia- 
logue, in  every-day  life,  and  in  their  own  thought  and  expe- 
rience.    Meditation  and  feeling,  more  than  books,  made 
them  what  they  were  as  preachers.     Men  and  women  to 
whom  sermons  had  long  been  beyond  all  things  unintelli- 
gible and  dull,  now  hung  upon  the  lips  of  the  preacher,  and 
would  travel  far  to  enjoy  that  privilege. 

Great  was  the  success  of  the  new  institute.  In  little  Their  sue- 
more  than  thirty  years  the  Minorites  of  England  could  boast 
of  being  more  than  twelve  hundred  in  number,  and  of 
having  fixed  centres  of  operation  for  their  missionary  work 
in  nearly  fifty  English  towns.  As  we  read  the  accounts  of 
their  progress,  of  the  effects  produced  by  their  preaching, 
and  of  the  number  of  conversions,  we  may  almost  imagine 
that  we  are  perusing  the  journal  of  the  pious  founder  of 
Methodism.  Heligious  and  humane  persons  supplied  them 
with  funds.  Their  good  works  made  them  many  friends. 
But  the  monk  had  rarely  a  good  word  for  them,  and  the 
parochial  clergy  generally  shared  in  the  same  feeling  of 
jealousy. 

But  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  energy  which  The  Fran- 
could  achieve  such  things  would  remain  content  with  that  clfmT^^^ 
indifference  to  learning  which  St.  Francis  had  enjoined.  ^^^^^^ ' 
The  condition  of  mind  with  which  the  Franciscans  had  to 
deal  in  the  intelligent  and  sceptical  portions  of  the  lower 
classes  in  towns,  rendered  it  necessary  that  the  '  compe- 
tently learned '  qualification  of  their  founder  should  be  lib- 
erally interpreted.    The  attacks  made  upon  them,  moreover, 
by  their  rivals,  the  monks  and  the  clergy,  contributed  to 
render  some  changes  in  this  respect  necessary.     Their  great 
patron,  Grostete,  was  fully  alive  to  this  necessity,  and  con- 
sented to  deliver  lectures  to  them  in  Oxford.     Many  of  the 


502  ENGLISH  AOT)  NORMANS. 

^HA?  5^'  ^^^^  learned  and  gifted  men  of  their  own  order  did  the  same 
in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom.  So,  by  degrees,  the  dis- 
ciples of  St.  Francis,  while  adhering  to  the  general  maxims 
of  his  institute,  became  scientific  and  learned,  and,  in  the 
end,  more  scientific  and  more  learned  than  the  older  orders 
in  the  chnrch.  Men  of  scientific  taste  among  them  could 
boast  of  their  Friar  Bacon,  and  men  of  scholastic  ambition 
could  boast  of  their  Bonaventura  and  Duns  Scotus. 
Good  and  But  cvil  camc  from  this  source  with  the  good.  The 
this  change,  logic  of  Aristotlc  was  opposcd  to  mysticism.-  It  was  an 
assertion  of  the  authority  of  '  common  sense.'  It  was  favour- 
able to  exactness  in  expression,  and  to  the  intelligible  in 
arrangement.  In  the  hands  of  the  Franciscans  it  contrib- 
uted largely,  directly  or  indirectly,  willingly  or  unwillingly  to 
freedom  of  thought.  Everywhere,  a  tendency  to  oppose  rea- 
son to  mere  authority,  had  become  manifest.  The  Franciscan 
schoolmen  declared  themselves  willing  to  meet  the  thought  of 
the  age  on  this  ground  ;  and  undertook  to  show  that  revela- 
tion itself,  in  place  of  being  a  setting  up  of  authority  against 
reason,  was  in  fact  an  appeal  to  reason.  It  was  inevitable  that 
the  result  of  taking  such  ground  would  be  of  a  mixed  nature. 
The  existing  church,  resting  as  it  did  almost  wholly  on  author- 
ity, could  not  fail  to  suffer.  The  application  of  this  logic, 
with  its  endless  distinctions,  to  controversies  of  every  possible 
description,  threw  such  an  air  of  contradiction  and  unsettled- 
ness  over  everything,  that  the  men  who  had  acquired  a  high 
reputation  as  preachers  to  the  poor,  became  objects  of  pop- 
ular contempt,  as  wasting  existence  in  little  else  than  the 
confounding  of  each  other  with  their  mutual  subtleties. 
When  learning  among  the  Franciscan  leaders  had  so  far 
spoiled  them  for  carrying  out  the  strict  intentions  of  their 
founder,  others  had  begun  to  show  signs  of  deterioration 
from  less  reputable  causes.  That  love  of  ease  and  indul- 
gence, which  St.  Francis  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  in  the  dis- 
tance, as  the  great  danger  of  his  order,  proved  to  be  not 
only  there,  but  to  be  quite  as  perilous  as  his  devout  fear 
had  led  him  to  imagine.  Many  of  his  disciples  fell  under 
those  influences.  The  consequence  was  a  rapid  decline  in 
popular  estimation ;   and  in  their  attempts  to  retain  the 


KELIGIOITS   LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  603 

power  which  was  thus  passing  away  from  them,  the  second  book  iv. 

generation  of  Franciscans  descended  so  often  to  the  use  of     

low  artifice  and  vulgar  superstition,  that  the  order  which 
had  been  hailed  by  men  like  Grostete  as  a  divine  gift  to 
the  age,  are  in  the  end  denounced  by  such  men  as  Chau- 
cer and  WyclifFe  as  a  disgrace  to  the  church  and  the 
nation. 

In  less  than  thirty  years  from  the  death  of  St.  Francis,  Eapiddetc- 
we  find  that  Bonaventura,  the  greatest  man  among  the  gov-  the  Fran- 
ernors  of  his  Order,  felt  constrained  to  address  the  provin- 
cial ministers  in  the  following  terms  :  ^  The  indolence  of  our 
brethren  is  laying  open  the  path  to  every  vice.  Tliey  are 
immersed  in  carnal  repose.  They  roam  up  and  down  every- 
where, burthening  every  place  to  which  they  come.  So  im- 
portunate are  their  demands,  and  such  their  rapacity,  that  it 
has  become  no  less  terrible  to  fall  in  with  them  than  with 
so  many  robbers.  So  sumptuous  is  the  structure  of  their 
magnificent  buildings  as  to  bring  us  all  into  discredit.  So 
frequently  are  they  involved  in  those  culpable  intricacies 
which  our  rule  prohibits,  that  suspicion,  scandal,  and  re- 
proach have  been  excited  against  us.'  "^ 

While  these  signs  of  change  did  so  much  to  diminish 
the  popularity  of  the  Franciscans,  their  rigid  orthodoxy, 
and  the  zeal  with  which  they  upheld  every  pretension  of 
the  papacy,  tended  to  the  same  result.  Innocent  III.,  who 
gave  the  papal  sanction  to  the  mission  of  St.  Francis,  was  a 
man  of  extraordinary  intelligence  and  energy.  Fraternities 
and  sects  of  every  description  had  grown  up  of  late  over 
Europe,  all  more  or  less  hostile  to  the  priesthood,  and  to 
the  religious  teaching  of  the  age.  By  means  of  the  disciples 
of  St.  Francis,  the  far-sighted  pontiff  hoped  to  give  a  check 
to  these  tendencies,  by  opposing  fraternity  to  fraternity,  and 
one  class  of  popular  preachers  to  another.  It  was  only  as 
shielded  by  his  holiness,  that  the  Franciscans  could  hope  to 
keep  their  ground  in  the  face  of  the  frequent  hostility  of 
the  bishops,  of  the  older  religious  orders,  and  of  the  more 
influential  of  the  laity.  Interest,  accordingly,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  gratitude,  disposed   them   to   become  conspicuous 

*  Biographical  Essays^  by  Sir  James  Stephen,  i.  149. 


504  ENGLISH   AND   NOEMANS. 

^cS5.  5^"  ^s  champions  of  tlie  papal  power,  and  of  its  most  extrava- 
gant  dogmas.  The  natural  effect  followed.  The  reforming 
spirit  of  the  times  came  to  be  everywhere  against  them. 
The  antagonism  which  their  institute  had  seemed  to  present 
to  the  enormous  w^ealth  and  worldliness  of  the  hierarchy 
was  pronounced  a  fraud.  K  to  be  distinguished  from  other 
ecclesiastical  schemes,  it  was  only  as  being  more  hypocriti- 
cal, by  keeping  up  the  appearance  of  a  peculiar  self-denial 
which  was  such  only  in  appearance.  Such,  however,  was 
the  shrew^d  adaptation  of  the  institute  to  its  purpose,  that, 
notwitlistanding  all  these  abuses,  it  has  survived  in  con- 
siderable vigour  in  Catholic  countries  to  this  day.  The 
great  preachers  in  Italy  are  still  the  '  Preaching  Friars.' 
Chaucer's  Tlic  pagcs  of  Chauccr  disclose  much   concerning  the 

society.  moral  and  religious  state  of  the  community  among  whom 
the  English  Franciscans  had  to  prosecute  their  labours  in 
his  day.  In  the  Oanterhury  Tales,  we  have  a  group  of  char- 
acters which  are  mostly  from  the  middle  class,  with  frequent 
glances  at  the  general  state  of  manners  about  the  middle  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  Both  the  ecclesiastical  persons, 
and  the  lay  persons,  belong  to  the  same  grade.  They  all 
come  before  us,  moreover,  as  led  out  in  cavalcade  by  the 
religious  spirit  of  the  times.  Their  place  of  destination  is 
the  tomb  of  Thomas  a  Becket.  Their  object  is  an  act  of 
religious  worship.  Some  of  these  tales,  however,  are  of  a 
strange  material,  especially  as  coming  from  the  lips  of  per- 
sons travelling  for  such  a  purpose.  Some  of  the  stories, 
indeed,  show  that  the  legends  of  ancient  piety  and  martyr- 
dom were  still  read  by  religious  persons  with  deep  interest, 
and  were  made  familiar  to  the  ear  of  society  generally. 
Faith,  it  would  appear,  in  the  tender  offices  and  interces- 
sions of  the  Yirgin,  was  often  strong,  and  also  in  the  re- 
ceived doctrines  of  the  church  ;  and  by  that  faith  the  pure 
and  afflicted  spirit  was  not  unfrequently  sustained  under 
much  wrong  and  suffering.  It  seems  clear,  that  pictures  of 
saintly  purity,  patience,  and  heroism  could  be  devoutly 
admired  in  those  days.  But  these  tales  enable  us  to  look 
into  the  homes  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  generally, 
both  in  town  and  country.     They  are  pictures  of  habits  and 


EELIGI0U8  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  605 

manners ;    and   the   strong  worldlincss   and  sensnousness  book  iv. 

whicli  were  softened  by  a  comparative  refinement  in  the     

upper  ranks,  are  there  seen  to  become  so  gross  as  to  cause 
the  common  talk  of  society  to  be  most  licentious  and  cor- 
rupting. The  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  Canterbury,  male 
and  female,  listen  to  narratives  so  obscene  and  lascivious, 
as  to  be  better  suited  to  the  worst  haunts  of  vice  than  to 
modest  and  devout  ears.  The  clerk  and  the  monk,  the 
prioress  and  the  nun,  are  all  among  the  listeners  to  these 
impure  stories.  Such,  it  seems,  was  society,  religious 
society,  at  that  time. 

The  same  tales  furnish  pictures  of  ecclesiastical  char- 
acters which  are  in  a  high  degree  instructive.  The  portrait 
of  the  '  Pardoner'  embodies  the  craft,  the  covetousness, 
and  the  mendacity  which  were  attributed  to  the  '  Begging 
Friars'  by  Armachanus,  Wycliffe,  and  others.  The  fact  that 
religious  functionaries  of  such  a  character  were  found 
everywhere,  shows  what  the  ecclesiastical  system  could 
tolerate,  and  accounts  in  part  for  the  disaffection  with  which 
it  came  to  be  regarded.  Similar  thoughts  are  suggested  by 
the  sketch  of  the  '  Sumpnoure,'  an  ofl&cial  who  exacts  all 
sorts  of  clerical  dues  in  a  manner  the  most  merciless  and 
iniquitous.  The  monks  introduced  do  little  honour  to  the 
canons  of  the  church  touching  celibacy  ;  and  the  '  Gierke 
of  Oxenforde'  shows  how  the  parochial  clergyman  might 
be  given  to  his  fopperies  and  amours,  and  still  retain  his 
cure  of  souls. 

The  effect  of  the  errors  and  corruptions  of  the  ecclesias-  Effect  of 

•*■  the  existing 

tical  svstem  was  different  on  different  classes  of  persons,  system  on 
Men  not  disposed  to  concern  themselves  with  anything  of  a  classes. 
religious  nature,  were  strengthened  in  every  tendency  to- 
wards irreligion,  and  the  number  of  the  positively  iiTeli- 
gious,  even  in  those  superstitious  times,  was  much  greater 
than  is  commonly  imagined.  Others  were  thus  influenced 
only  so  far  as  to  be  prompted  to  lift  up  their  voice  in  par- 
liament, or  elsewhere,  against  the  abuses  of  the  system,  con- 
tinuing, after  all,  in  the  main,  good  Catholics.  But  there 
was  another  class  whose  defection  rested,  not  merely  on 
moral,  or  national,  but  on  religious  grounds,  and  who  em- 


506  ENGLISH  AN'D  NOEMANS. 

^cSS.S^'  ^^^ced  most  of  the  opinions  which  became  prevalent  in  this 
country  as  Protestant  doctrine  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

wyciiffe.  Tlie  name  most  prominently  associated  with  the  progress 

of  these  opinions  is  that  of  John  de  WycliiFe.  This  extra- 
ordinary man  is  supposed  to  have  been  bom  in  1324,  in  a 
village  which  bears  his  name,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tees  in 
Yorkshire.  He  appears  to  have  entered  Oxford  in  1340, 
and  was  mainly  resident  in  that  university  until  within 
about  three  years  of  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1384. 

His^<ij^puto         He  first  distinguished  himself  in  a  controversy  with  the 

friars.  Mcndicaut  orders,  which  is  generally  dated  from  about  the 
year  1360,  and  when  he  must  have  been  not  more  than 
thirty-six  years  of  age.  Other  writers  had  marked  the 
rapidity  with  which  these  orders  had  fallen  away  from  the 
institute  of  their  founder.  Their  preaching  had  degenerated 
so  as  to  be  little  adapted  to  the  religious  or  the  moral  im- 
provement of  their  hearers.  They  managed,  moreover,  to 
become  very  rich,  in  the  face  of  a  vow  which  doomed  them 
to  poverty ;  and,  as  will  be  supposed,  the  wealth  thus  dis- 
ingenuously obtained,  became  the  cause  of  a  still  deeper 
deterioration.  But  many  of  them  had  become  learned,  dis- 
tinguished themselves  as  professors,  and  were  so  skilled  in 
intrigue,  especially  in  making  proselytes  from  among  the 
sons  of  wealthy  families,  that  before  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  parents  had  ceased  so  generally  to  send  their 
children  to  Oxford,  that  the  students  of  the  University  were 
reduced  to  about  a  fifth  of  their  former  number.  Tliere 
were  four  orders  of  friars,  of  which  the  Dominicans  and 
Franciscans,  especially  the  latter,  were  the  best  known  in 
England. 

The  ground  taken  by  "Wyciiffe  in  his  controversy  with 
these  fraternities  was  distinguished  from  that  taken  by  his 
precursors,  as  consisting,  not  so  much  in  comj^laints  of 
alleged  abuses,  as  in  exception  taken  to  the  institute  of  the 
religious  orders  considered  in  itself.  "VYyclifie  upheld  the 
authority  of  the  parochial  clergy.  He  accounted  the  men- 
dicant preachers  intruders  upon  ground  already  occupied 
He  denounced  the  conduct  of  St.  Francis  and  others  in 
originating  such  orders,  as  an  attempt  to  do  something  for 


EELIGIOrS   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  SOY 

the  chur(3h  which  her  Divine  Founder  had  not  been  wise  ^^^^^• 

enough,  or  powerful  enough,  to  do — an  assumption  which     

he  described  as  nothing  short  of  blasphemy.  Tims,  in  the 
first  step  of  his  course  as  a  controversialist,  we  find  the  germ 
of  the  Protestant  doctrine  concerning  the  sufficiency  of 
Scripture  ;  and  that  principle  once  seized,  was  never  relin- 
quished. The  mission  of  the  Saviour  was  to  found  his 
church,  and  to  institute  that  '  order'  for  her  benefit  best 
adapted  to  her  need ;  and  to  attempt  to  supplement  and 
amend  what  He  had  thus  completed,  was  to  reflect  on  Him 
as  a  defective  instructor,  who  had  not  attained  to  our  stand- 
ard of  wisdom  and  goodness. 

In  the  year  1360,  Wycliife  appears  to  have  obtained  his  His  prefer- 
first  preferment,  which  consisted  of  the  living  of  Filling- 
ham,  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln.  That  living  was  in  the  gift 
of  the  fellows  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford  ;  and  in  that  same 
year  Wycliffe  became  master  of  Balliol.  Four  years  later 
he  ceased,  from  causes  unknown  to  us,  to  be  master  of 
Balliol,  and  became  known  as  warden  of  Canterbury  Hall, 
founded  by  Simon  de  Islep,  who  was  then  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.*  Canterbury  Hall  was  designed  at  first  for  a 
certain  number  of  clerical  or  secular  scholars ;  together 
with  a  lesser  number  and  a  warden,  who  should  be  monks, 
and  be  chosen  by  the  monastery  of  Christchurch,  Canter- 
bury. But  the  rivalries  between  the  j)arochial  clergy  and 
the  religious  orders  in  those  days  were  ceaseless  and  bitter. 
The  experiment  in  this  case  was  not  successful.  Feud  grew 
up  between  the  two  parties ;  and  Islep  resolved  to  alter  the 
foundation  of  the  establishment  by  restricting  its  advan- 
tages to  the  secular  clergy  only,  to  the  exclusion  of  either 
monks  or  friars.  It  was  on  this  new  basis  that  Wycliffe, 
by  the  choice  of  Islep,  became  warden.  The  monks  became 
excluded,  and  with  them  Woodhall  the  warden.  Woodhall 
and  his  brother  monks  protested  against  this  proceeding, 

*  Attempts  have  been  recently  made  to  show  that  the  warden  of  Canterbury 
Hall  was  not  Wycliffe  the  Reformer,  but  one  Whyteclyve  of  Mayfield,  who  is 
supposed  to  have  been  in  favour  with  archbishop  Islep.  But  this  new  idea  is 
beset  with  all  sorts  of  difficulty — the  old  one  is,  we  feel  assured,  the  true  one. — 
See  the  subject  discussed  in  John  de  Wycliffe,  a  3fonograph,  by  the  Author, 
c.  iii.  And  in  an  article  intitled  Wycliffe,  his  BiograpJters  and  Critic.%  in  Xo. 
LVI.  of  the  British  Quarterly  Review.  ' 


508  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^c£S  6^*  ^^^  petitioned  Peter  Langham,  who  became  archbishop  of 
— —  Canterbury  in  the  place  of  Islep,  deceased,  to  annul  what 
had  been  done,  and  to  restore  them  to  their  former  position. 
Their  plea  was,  that  Islep  had  been  unduly  influenced  in 
making  the  late  change,  and  had  taken  this  course  in  his 
last  sickness,  when  incompetent  to  act.  Langham,  who 
had  himself  been  a  monk,  and  abbot  of  "Westminster,  was 
inclined  to  perpetuate  the  original  connexion  between  Can- 
terbury Hall  and  the  monastery  in  Canterbury,  and  accord- 
ingly restored  Woodhall  and  his  brethren.  It  was  now 
Wycliffe's  turn  to  protest.  But  for  him  and  his  expelled 
clerks  there  was  no  remedy,  it  seems,  except  by  causing 
their  suit  to  be  taken  to  the  papal  court.  This  step  was 
taken.  The  litigation  thus  commenced  extended  over  nearly 
four  years — ^from  136T  to  1370  ;  and  through  the  joint  in- 
fluence of  Canterbury  and  gold,  a  verdict  was  at  length  ob- 
tained in  favour  of  the  monks. 
His  opinion  It  was  wliilc  this  cause  was  pending,  that  pope  Urban 
John  tri-"^  demanded  payment  of  the  tribute  promised  by  king  John. 
"We  have  seen  how  the  English  parliament  met  that 
demand.  An  anonymous  monk  published  an  argument  in 
favour  of  the  claim  which  had  been  thus  repudiated,  and 
challenged  Wycliffe  by  name  to  reply  to  it.  "Wycliffe, 
who  by  his  time  had  become  chaplain  to  the  king,  answered 
the  challenge  in  a  paper  which  gives  the  substance  of  the 
debate  upon  the  question  in  the  House  of  Lords.  In  this 
paper  Wycliffe  declares  the  papal  claim  to  be  baseless,  on 
the  ground  both  of  reason  and  Scripture.  He  was  well 
aware  of  the  probable  eff'ect  of  such  a  course  on  his  pend- 
ing suit ;  but  he  nevertheless  gives  utterance  in  this  publi- 
cation to  some  of  those  opinions  which,  as  further  developed 
and  diff'used,  were  to  expose  him  ere  long  to  so  much 
trouble. 
Becomes  Wycliffc  appears  to  have  taken  his  degree  as  Doctor  in 

professor,  piyinj^y  |j^  1372,  wliicli  authorized  him,  according  to  the 
usage  of  those  times,  to  deliver  lectures  as  a  professor  of 
theology  in  the  university.  He  availed  himself  promptly 
and  sedulously  of  this  privilege.  Two  years  later,  we  And 
him  one  of  an  embassy  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the 


RELIGIOUS   LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  509 

papal  delegates  at  Bruges,  on   those  proceedings  of  the  ^^^^/^ 

papal  court  of  which  such  frequent  and  loud  complaint  had     

been  made  in  the  English  parliament.  The  part  taken  by 
Wycliffe  in  this  embassy,  which  lasted  nearly  two  years,  and 
the  effect  of  his  more  public  labours  in  Oxford,  rendered 
him  increasingly  obnoxious  to  the  papal  court,  and  to  the 
more  servile  of  its  partisans  in  this  country. 

In  1377,  accordingly,  letters  are  sent  by  the  pope,  both  ^gg'^^ainst 
to  Oxford  and  to  Canterbury,  insisting  that  inquiry  should  ^i™- 
be  forthwith  made  concerning  tne  doctrines  said  to  be  pro- 
mulgated by  Wycliffe.  He  is  in  consequence  summoned  to 
appear  before  the  English  convocation  in  St.  Paul's.  He 
makes  his  appearance  there,  but  it  is  with  John  of  Gaunt, 
duke  of  Lancaster,  on  the  one  side,  and  earl  Percy,  marshal 
of  England,  on  the  other.  Courtney,  bishop  of  London, 
was  the  presiding  churchman ;  and  the  advance  of  the 
noblemen  and  their  attendants  towards  the  space  where  the 
clergy  were  seated,  appears  to  have  caused  some  noise  and 
disturbance.  An  old  Chronicle  has  described  the  scene 
which  ensued. 

Bishop  Courtney. — Lord  Percy,  if  I  had  known  what 
masteries  you  would  have  kept  in  the  church,  I  would  have 
stopped  you  from  coming  hither. 

Duke  of  Lancaster. — ^He  shall  keep  such  masteries, 
though  you  say  nay. 

Lord  Percy. — -"Wycliffe,  sit  down,  for  you  have  many 
things  to  answer  to,  and  you  need  to  repose  yourself  on  a 
soft  seat. 

Bishop  Courtney. — ^It  is  unreasonable  that  one  cited  be- 
fore his  ordinary  should  sit  down  during  his  answer.  He 
must  and  shall  stand. 

Duhe  of  Lancaster. — Lord  Percy's  motion  for  WycliiFe 
is  but  reasonable.  And  as  for  you,  my  lord  bishop,  who 
are  grown  so  proud  and  arrogant,  I  will  bring  down  the^ 
pride,  not  of  you  alone,  but  of  all  the  prelacy  in  Eng- 
land. 

Bishop  Courtney. — 'Do  your  worst,  sir. 

Duke  of  La/ncaster. — ^Thou  bearest  thyself  so  brag  upon 


510  ENGLISH  AND  NORMANS. 

^ch5  ^6^'  *^y^  parents,*  wliich  shall  not  be  able  to  keep  thee  :  they 
shall  have  enough  to  do  to  help  themselves. 

BisJiop  Courtney. — My  confidence  is  not  in  my  parents, 
nor  in  any  man  else,  but  only  in  God,  in  whom  I  trust,  by 
whose  assistance  I  will  be  bold  to  speak  the  truth. 

Dulce  of  Lancaster. — Kather  than  I  will  take  these 
words  at  his  hands,  I  will  pluck  the  bishop  by  the  hair  out 
of  the  church. f 

This  last  expression  was  dropped  in  an  undertone  to 
earl  Percy.  It  was  heard,  however,  by  the  people  near, 
who  seem  to  have  been  more  disposed  to  side  with  the 
bishop  than  with  the  duke.  Much  excitement  and  con- 
fusion followed.  The  meeting  was  dissolved,  and  the 
Eeformer  withdrew  under  the  protection  of  his  powerful 
friends. 

Synod  at  Somc  nine  months  later,  it  was  noised  abroad  that  Wye- 

Lambeth.      ,  '  ''  ^ 

lifFe  was  about  to  appear  before  a  synod  of  the  clergy  in 
Lambeth.  On  this  occasion  he  had  not  the  presence  of 
great  men  to  sustain  him.  But  the  people  were  with  him, 
and  in  their  demonstrations  in  his  favour  became  loud  and 
disorderly.  Encouraged  by  the  presence  of  some  wealthy 
citizens,  the  populace  forced  their  way  into  the  chapel,  to 
be  witnesses  of  the  proceedings.  The  clergy  were  alarmed. 
Still  more  so  when  Sir  Lewis  Clifford  made  his  appearance, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  queen-mother  forbade  their  proceed- 
ing to  any  conclusions  injurious  to  Wycliffe. 
wyciiffe's  Sometliinsj,  however,  was  done.     AYvcliffe  had  received 

reply  to  ^'.     .  '  PIP-,-,. 

charges       a  paper  contammff  a  statement  oi  the  lalse  doctrines  at- 

against  him.       .\  -,  ^  .  ^i«  i-T-»r>  i       -\ 

tributed  to  him.  io  this  paper  the  Keiormer  had  prepared 
a  written  answer,  which  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the 
commissioners.  Wycliffe  retired  amidst  the  acclamations 
of  the  people,  but  the  delegates  sat  in  judgment  on  his 
paper,  and  the  sentiments  expressed  in  it  were  all  declared 
to  be  either  erroneous  or  heretical.  Tlie  grand  points  in 
this  document  were  twofold — ^those  which  placed  the  ulti- 
mate authority  in  relation  to  the  persons  and  property  of 
churchmen  in  the  hands  of  the  laity ;    and  those  which 

*  His  father  was  the  powerful  Hugh  Courtney,  earl  of  Devonshire,  a  family 
which  boasted  of  its  descent  ft-om  Charlemagne. 

f  Ex.  Hist.  Monachi  Albania  in  Foxe,  Acts  and  Mon.  iu  797   800. 


RELIGIOUS    LIFE   IN   ENGLAND.  611 

stripped  the  censure  pronounced  so  freely  by  ecclesiastics  ^§^^  ^ 

in  those  times  of  all  validity,  except  as  they  should  happen     

to  be  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God.  It  pertained  to 
the  laity,  as  an  ultimate  authority,  to  correct  a  delinquent 
clergy  ;  and  the  supposed  power  of  the  priest  to  make  the 
spiritual  condition  of  any  man  at  all  other  than  the  man 
himself  had  already  made  it,  was  declared  to  be  a  mere 
priestly  invention.  This  was  to  deprive  the  clergy  of  the 
weapons  which  had  given  them  the  sort  of  dominion  in 
things  temporal  and  spiritual  of  which  they  were  pos- 
sessed. It  was  to  take  the  souls  of  the  people  out  of  their 
hands. 

During  the  next  four  years  Wycliffe's  labours  in  Ox-  ^ocMnl  of *^ 
ford  were  abundant,  both  in  lecturing  and  in  authorship.  gJantiation 
Through  every  year  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life, 
his  opinions  appear  to  have  become  more  and  more  adverse 
to  those  which  the  ruling  clergy  were  concerned  to 
uphold.  The  climax  of  his  offending  at  the  close  of  the 
four  years  mentioned  was,  his  lecturing  openly  against  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Proceeding  thus  far,  he  was 
silenced  by  the  chancellor  of  the  university,  and  his  power 
to  be  useful  as  heretofore  in  Oxford,  was  thus  brought  to  a 
close.     This  happened  in  1381. 

The  remaining  three  years  of  his  life  he  resided  on  his  Retires  to 
cure  as  rector  of  Lutterworth,  where  he  preached  constantly,  woitiu" 
revised  his  theological  lectures  for  publication,  ^carried  on 
his  translation  of  the  entire  Bible  into  English,  and  pub- 
lished an  almost  incredible  number  of  tracts  and  treatises, 
all  bearing  on  his  one  object — the  reformation  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  times. 

According  to  the  doctrine  of  "Wycliffe,  the  crown  was  summary 
supreme  in  authority,  over  all  persons  and  possessions  in  doctrine, 
this  realm  of  England — the  persons  of  churchmen  being 
amenable  to  the  civil  courts,  in  common  with  the  laity ; 
and  the  property  of  churchmen  being  subject  to  the  will  of 
the  king,  as  expressed  through  the  law  of  the  land,  in  com- 
mon with  all  other  property.  ^N^or  was  it  enough  that  he 
should  thus  preclude  the  papal  court  from  all  meddling  with 
secular  affairs  in  this  English  land.     According  to  his  ulti- 


512  ENGLISH  AND  NOEMANS. 

^225.5^'  mate  doctrine,  the  pretence  of  the  pope  to  exercise  even 
spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the  church  of  England,  as  being 
himself  the  head  of  all  churches,  should  be  repudiated  as  an 
insolent  and  mischievous  usurpation.  The  whole  frame- 
work of  the  existing  hierarchy  he  describes  as  a  device  of 
clerical  ambition ;  the  first  step  in  its  ascending  scale,  the 
distinction  between  bishop  and  presbyter,  being  an  innova- 
tion on  the  polity  of  the  early  church,  in  which  the  clergy 
were  all  upon  an  equality. 

Concerning  the  Sacraments,  he  retained  the  ordinance 
of  Baptism,  but  without  receiving  the  doctrine  of  the 
church  in  respect  to  it  as  being  necessary  in  all  cases  to  sal- 
vation. In  like  manner  he  retained  the  ordinance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  but  without  the  doctrine  of  transubstantia- 
tion  or  of  consubstantiation.  Confirmation  was,  in  his  view, 
a  custom  originated  by  churchmen  to  gratify  their  pride  ; 
and  penance  was  a  usage  which  had  come  from  the  same 
source,  and  which  had  been  so  managed  as  to  be  always 
much  prized  by  covetous  and  ambitious  priests.  To  the 
same  effect  does  he  express  himself  concerning  the  alleged 
sacraments  of  Holy  Orders  and  Extreme  Unction.  !N"6ne 
of  these  services,  he  maintains,  necessarily  convey  any 
beneficial  influence,  and  all  are  more  or  less  disfigured  by 
superstition,  and  fraught  with  delusion.  But  Wyclifie  was 
a  believer  to  the  last  in  the  existence  of  an  intermediate 
state,  and  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  on  the  part  of  the  living 
for  souls  in  that  state.  But  masses  for  the  dead  he  de- 
scribes as  a  piece  of  priestly  machinery,  carefully  adjusted 
with  a  view  to  gain.  The  prayer  of  a  layman,  he  insisted, 
would  be  quite  as  efficacious  as  that  of  a  priest,  while  all 
prayer  must  be  fruitless,  except  as  coming  from  faith  and 
charity.  In  regard  to  church  censures,  he  taught  that  men 
are  never  the  better  nor  the  worse  for  them,  inasmuch  as  the 
spiritual  condition  of  the  worshipper,  as  a  responsible  crea- 
ture, and  that  alone,  determined  his  destiny.  He  saw  the 
wealth  of  the  church  as  St.  Francis  had  seen  it,  as  having 
brought  all  kind  of  evil  upon  Christendom.  But  he  was 
not  content  simply  to  oppose  an  order  of  '  poor  priests'  to 
an  order  of  rich  ones.     His  maxim  was,  that  it  became 


EELIGIOrS  LIFE   IN  ENGLAND.  513 

every  Christian  people  to  support  a  Christian  priesthood,  ^^^f  ^• 

but  that  suitable  '  livelihood  and  clothing'  were  sufficient.      

In  short,  there  was  a  lofty  idealism  in  his  doctrine  concern- 
ing human  authority  altogether,  which  was  liable  to  be 
misunderstood,  and  brought  him  into  some  trouble.  His 
general  notion  on  this  subject,  though  derived  mainly  from 
Augustine,  has  a  feudal  cast  about  it.  In  his  view,  the 
Divine  Being  is  Chief  Lord  in  relation  to  all  earthly  author- 
ities and  possessions.  All  are  received  from  him  on  con- 
ditions, and  those  conditions  failing,  the  gifts  are  forfeited 
^ — but  forfeited  in  respect  to  God,  not  in  respect  to  man. 
The  priest  who  fell  into  mortal  sin  forfeited  his  office  and 
possessions  in  respect  to  man ;  but  Wycliife's  writings 
abundantly  show,  that  in  the  case  of  the  layman,  when  found 
to  be  thus  delinquent,  the  consequences  were  regarded  as 
purely  spiritual,  and  as  having  relation  to  God  only,  not  as 
temporal,  and  to  be  dealt  with  as  such  by  society.* 

The  fact  that  a  man  who  published  such  tenets  should  opTntn'^n  ^ 
have  lived  at  large  so  long,  and  have  died  in  his  bed,  sug-  tee/th'^' 
gests  that  the  force  of  opinion  on  the  side  of  free  thought  ^^^^"^^y- 
and  free  utterance  must  have  been  great  in  those  days.  It 
is  true,  bishop  Courtney  could  venture  to  bring  the  terrors 
of  persecution  to  bear  on  men  of  less  mark ;  but  it  appears  to 
have  been  felt  to  the  last,  that  to  adopt  severe  measures  to- 
wards Wycliffe,  might  be  to  evince  more  zeal  than  prudence. 
His  opinions  embraced  nearly  every  dogma  since  professed 
by  Protestants,  and  some  which  were  so  far  advanced  that 
few  Protestants  even  now  are  found  prepared  to  adopt 
them.  He  multiplied  tracts  and  treatises  in  English,  and 
of  a  size  to  admit  of  wide  circulation,  to  a  marvellous  ex- 
tent. He  encouraged  a  class  of  men,  known  by  the  name 
of  *  poor  priests,'  to  travel  from  county  to  county,  and  to 
preach  in  churchyards,  fairs,  markets,  or  in  any  other  place 
where  people  were  wont  to  congregate,  and  might  be  dis- 
posed to  listen  to  them.  'Nov  were  these  itinerant  orators 
without  theit  friends.     Knights  and  gentlemen  might  often 

*  John  de  Wyclife,  c.  xii.  Wycliffe,  his  Biographers  and  Critics^  37. 
The  Rev.  W.  W.  Shirley's  "account  of  Wycliflfe,  recently  published  {Fasciculi 
Zizaniorum),  is  full  of  error. 

Vol.  L— 33 


514  ENGLISH  AND  NORMAN&. 

^ch5  5^'  ^®  ^^^^  standing  near  them,  prepared  to  act  as  their  defend- 

ers.*    These  agencies  came,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  wake 

of  much  that  served  to  make  the  people  willing  to  hearken 
to  such  instructors.  Such  was  the  effect  produced  on  the 
popular  mind,  that,  according  to  the  historians  of  the  time, 
you  might  be  sure  that  every  second  man  you  met  would 
be  a  disciple  of  the  new  doctrine.  On  the  whole,  it  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say,  that  England  was  more  ripe  for  a  Protes- 
tant reformation  in  the  last  days  of  Edward  III.  than  in  the 
best  days  of  Henry  YIII.  But  the  continent  was  not  in  an 
equal  degree  prepared  for  such  a  change. 

The  policy  of  Richard  II.  towards  religion,  was  like  his 
policy  in  everything,  right  and  wrong  by  turns,  but  always 
feeble.  Under  his  sanction  the  persecution  of  the  disciples 
of  Wycliffe  began.  But  while  thus  making  enemies  of  all 
classes  of  reformers,  he  failed  to  make  friends  of  the  clergy, 
or  of  the  papal  court.  He  did  many  things  which  were 
meant  to  be  acceptable  in  those  quarters,  but  he  had  neither 
the  power  nor  the  disposition  to  do  all  that  was  expected 
from  him.  The  persecution  of  the  Lollards — ^for  by  that  name 
the  religious  reformers  now  began  to  be  distinguished,  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  reign  of  Richard  II.  It  was  particu- 
larly felt  in  Herefordshire,  Leicester,  I^ottingham,  and  in 
^Northampton.  But  the  feeling  of  disaffection  was  not  sub- 
dued, it  was  rather  diffused,  and  became  more  outspoken. 
Tlie  memorable  '  Remonstrance'  of  this  party,  published  in 
1395,  as  an  address  to  the  people  and  parliament  of  Eng- 
land, furnished  sufficient  evidence  on  this  point. 
The  The  authors  of  this  paper  say  that  the  church  of  England, 

remoi-  ^  siucc  slic  began  to  dote  on  temporalities,  after  the  example 
of  Rome  her  stepmother,  has  declined  in  faith,  hope,  and 
charity,  and  become  infected  with  pride  and  all  deadly  sin ; 
that  priestly  ordination,  as  commonly  performed,  is  a  hu- 
man invention,  and  delusive,  the  gift  of  th«  Holy  Ghost 
being  restricted  to  spiritual  men,  and  never  conferred  be- 
cause a  bishop  affects  to  confer  it ;  that  the  professed  celi- 
bacy of  the  clergy  leads  to  every  kind  of  sensuous  wicked- 
ness and  that  for  this  reason,  all  monasteries  and  nunneries 

*  Knighton,  2660,  2661. 


straiice. 


EELiaiOrS  LIFE  IN  ENGLAOT).  515 

should  be  dissolved ;  that  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  book  iv. 

'  ^     ^  ^  '     CnAP.  6. 

as  commonly  taught,  is  inseparable  from  idolatry,  and  would     

be  at  once  discarded  if  the  language  of  the  Evangelical  doc- 
tor (Wycliife),  in  his  Trialogus,  were  wisely  considered ; 
that  the  custom  of  exorcising,  and  the  manner  of  consecrat- 
ing places  and  things,  savour  more  of  necromancy  than  of 
the  Gospel ;  that  the  clergy  sin  against  religion  and  the 
state  by  assuming  worldly  offices  ;  that  prayer  for  the  dead, 
if  offered  at  all,  should  have  respect  to  the  departed  gen- 
erally, and  not  to  particular  persons,  all  hireling  services  of 
this  nature,  as  wanting  in  charity,  being  assuredly  value- 
less ;  that  auricular  confession  and  absolution,  as  ordinarily 
practised,  lead  to  impurity,  and  are  of  no  worth,  except  as 
serving  to  uphold  the  dominion  of  priests  ;  that  pilgrimages 
to  do  honour  to  images  and  relics  are  idolatrous,  a  device 
of  the  clergy  to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance,  and  to  aug- 
ment their  own  wealth  and  power  ;  and  that  all  aggressive 
wars,  whether  on  the  plea  of  religion  or  conquest,  are  con- 
trary to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  religion  of  Christ.* 

These  were  bold  utterances  to  be  found  in  a  document 
presented  to  the  commons  of  England.  But  so  presented  it 
was,  and  its  contents  were  largely  discussed,  as  including 
much  deserving  grave  consideration.  Eichard  censured 
Sir  Lewis  Clifford,  Sir  John  Latimer,  Sir  Richard  Sturry, 
Sir  John  Montague,  and  others,  for  the  favour  shown  by 
them  to  the  complaints  of  these  malcontents.  Pope  Boni- 
face wrote  expressing  his  amazement  and  grief  that  men 
should  be  found  in  the  English  parliament  capable  of  sym- 
pathizing in  any  degree  with  such  opinions.  But  the  re- 
forming members  of  the  Lower  House  found  the  rebuke  of 
the  king  and  the  pope  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the 
applause  of  the  people.  Papers  were  posted  by  night  on 
the  doors  of  St.  Paul's  and  Westminster  Abbey,  in  which 
ridicule  and  scorn  were  heaped  upon  the  errors  and  corrup- 
tions attributed  to  the  religious  orders  and  to  the  clergy 
generally,  t 

It  may  seem  strange,  that  the  clergy  of  the  fourteenth  Eeasoniug 
century  should  find  themselves  confronted  with  these  siffns  clergy  at 

•^  ^        this  tiaie. 

*  Remonstrance^  &c.,  edited  by  Rev.  G.  Forshall.  f  Foxe,  an.  1395 


516  EKGLISH  AND   NOEMANS. 

^chS  ^5^'  ^^  disaffection,  and  never  appear  to  suspect  that  there  was 

some  tnitli  and  justice  in  the  feeling  thus  expressed,  nor 

seem  to  have  once  thought  that  it  jnight  possibly  be  wise 
to  endeavour  to  neutralize  and  remove  it  by  amendment. 
They  might  reasonably  take  exception  to  many  of  these 
opinions,  and  to  much  in  the  temper  of  the  men  by  whom 
they  were  broached.  The  logic  of  "Wy cliffe  himself  might 
be  often  at  fault,  and  his  temper  not  less  so,  but  was  there 
nothing  in  the  man  or  in  his  doings  entitled  to  a  better 
estimation  ?  In  the  place  of  any  measure  of  considerateness 
and  discrimination  of  this  sort,  the  one  idea  of  the  clergy 
seems  to  have  been,  that  the  discontented  were  such  always 
and  wholly  without  reason,  and  that  the  only  fitting  mode 
to  deal  with  them  was  to  coerce  them,  and,  when  possible, 
to  crush  them  without  mercy. 

Retrospect.  Such,  then,  wcro  the  conditions  of  religious  life  in  Eng- 
land from  the  age  of  Magna  Charta  to  the  accession  of  the 
house  of  Lancaster.  The  relations  between  the  English 
church  and  the  papacy,  led  to  endless  disputes  between  the 
crown  and  the  ruling  classes  on  the  one  side — and  the 
popes,  with  their  dependents  and  adherents,  on  the  other. 
With  religion  proper  these  strifes  had  little  to  do.  The 
struggle  was  between  two  great  systems  of  patronage.  The 
object  on  either  side,  was  to  secure  the  largest  possible 
share  in  the  distribution  of  the  offices  and  emoluments  of 
an  opulent  hierarchy.  Beneath  the  region  in  which  this 
conflict  was  carried  on  were  the  people,  who  were  not 
greatly  edified  by  the  example  thus  constantly  presented  to 
them  on  the  part  of  the  powers  above  them.  But  as  politi- 
cians were  -thus  taught  to  use  sharp  speech  in  describing 
the  conduct  of  the  accredited  guides  of  the  church,  the 
example  became  infectious,  and  something  of  its  effect  is 
seen  in  that  free  utterance  of  the  popular  mind  on  religious 
matters  which  characterized  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  Dur- 
ing that  half  century,  the  civil  power  was  expected  to  be 
the  shield  of  those  who  ventured  upon  such  criticisms  ;  and 
fear  of  the  clergy  was  limited  by  the  fact,  that  whatever 
might  be  their  disposition  to  persecute,  it  was  no  secret 
that  their  power  in  that  direction  was  not  great.     In  the 


RELIGIOUS  LIFE  IN  ENGLAND.  517 

latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  accordingly,  we  find  ^^Jk  iv. 

the  interval  in  our  annals  which  is  marked  by  the  highest     

culture,  and  the  largest  measure  of  freedom,  known  in  our 
history,  until  we  come  to  the  times  of  the  Reformation. 
Mentally,  ethically,  and  religiously,  the  reign  of  Edward 
III.  is  the  brightest  portion  of  our  Middle  Age  life.  It 
gave  us  all  the  great  j)rinciples  and  precedents  of  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution,  and  with  these  our  Chaucer  and  our  Wyc- 
liffe.  Men  felt,  in  those  days,  that  they  might  be  devout 
without  fear,  cherish  freedom  of  thought,  and  indulge  in  a 
large  freedom  of  speech.  On  the  accession  of  Richard  II., 
the  spirit  of  the  country  was  more  buoyant  and  free  than 
on  the  accesion  of  Henry  YIII.,  and  the  relative  number  of 
truly  devout  men  in  it  would  seem  to  have  been  much 
greater  in  the  former  time  than  in  the  latter. 


BOOK  Y. 

LANCASTER  AND  YORK 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE     EEACTION. 


chap.i.'  n^HE  arbitrary  conduct  of  Richard  IL,  coupled  as  it  was 
Accession  -^  witli  SO  many  signs  of  weakness  and  wickedness,  ac- 
IV.  ^°^^  count  sufficiently  for  the  deposition  which  awaited  him. 
The  earl  of  March,  son  of  Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  was  the 
next  heir  to  the  throne.  But  Henry  of  Lancaster,  who  was 
also  cou«in  to  Richard,  had  suffered  much  from  his  hands, 
and  was  placed  by  circumstances  at  the  head  of  the  power- 
ful party  in  arms  against  him.  By  the  barons,  the  clergy, 
and  the  people,  Lancaster  was  regarded  as  the  most  eligible 
person  to  fill  the  vacant  throne  ;  and,  by  an  act  of  the  Eng- 
lish parliament,  Henry,  duke  of  Lancaster,  was  accepted  as 
king  of  England. 

These  events  form  an  epoch  of  change.  The  causes  of 
this  change,  however,  were  not  so  much  national  as  person- 
al. "We  find  them  in  the  character  of  the  king,  and  in  the 
factions  of  his.  court.  They  came  from  the  nation  only  in  so 
far  as  the  nation  had  become  possessed  with  a  spirit  of  free- 
dom, and  had  been  too  long  familiar  with  the  forms  of  com- 
paratively good  government,  to  allow  of  its  being  content 


THE  KEACTION.  519 

under  a  king  whose  passions  so  often  set  law  at  defiance,  ^^^3. i.' 
and  tended  only  to  bad  government. 

But  if  the  causes  of  this  change  are  found  in  persons  his  policy, 
more  than  in  the  nation,  the  interests  of  the  nation  were 
deeply  aflfected  by  it.  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
visited  Henry  in  his  exile,  and  induced  him  to  engage  in 
the  enterprise  which  placed  him  on  the  throne.  This  circum- 
stance seemed  to  promise  that  there  would  be  a  fast  friend- 
ship between  the  house  of  Lancaster  and  the  church.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  John  of  Gaunt,  the  father  of  the  new  king, 
had  been  the  great  patron  of  Wycliffe,  and  the  king  himself 
had  been  disposed  at  one  time  to  favour  the  new  doctrines. 
It  soon  became  manifest,  however,  that  the  crown  and  the 
mitre  were  about  to  combine  in  an  efibrt  to  crush  those  ten- 
dencies on  the  side  of  a  change  in  religion  which  had  grown 
to  be  so  formidable.  Henry  knew,  probably,  that,  since  the 
disorders  under  Wat  Tyler,  many  of  the  great  men  had 
learnt  to  look  with  suspicion  on  the  proceedings  of  the  re- 
formers, and  he  appears  to  have  persuaded  himself,  that 
LoUardism  in  the  middle  and  lower  classes  might  be  kept 
safely  in  check,  if  only  the  church  and  the  barons  should 
prove  faithful  to  him. 

But  his  nobles  were  not  all  found  faithful.  The  rumours 
of  plotting  against  him,  in  more  than  one  quarter,  soon  came 
to  his  ears.  Men  whom  his  clemency  had  spared  conspired 
to  destroy  him.  The  Scots,  the  Welsh,  and  the  Percys,  com- 
pelled him  to  take  the  field  against  them.  In  all  these 
signs  of  unsettledness  we  see  the  efi'ect  of  the  irregularities 
and  violence  to  which  Henry  had  been  indebted  for  his  ele- 
vation. He  was  a  king,  but  the  Percys  had  made  him 
such,  and  the  jealousies  from  this  source,  and  others  of  a 
similar  complexion  elsewhere,  made  his  experience  of  sov- 
ereignty no  enviable  matter. 

For  a  while,  however,  even  tlie  House  of  Commons  were  statute  for 
prepared  to  abet  some  of  the  worst  features  of  the  king's  heretics. 
policy.     In  the  second  year  of  Henry  TV.  the  statute  for 
the  burning  of  heretics  was  passed.     This  instrument  com- 
mences with  stating  that  complaints  were  often  and  every- 
where made  about  persons  who,  without  licence  from  the 


520  LANCASTER  AND   YORK. 

cha?  l  ■  Proper  authority,  gave  themselves  to  preaching ;   who  re- 
-     tained  possession   of  heretical  books,  convened   unlawful 
assemblies,  and  diffused  in  many  ways  the  most  pestilent 
opinions.     The  provisions  made  against  these  disorders  are 
— that  no  man  shall  preach  in  future  who  is  not  duly  au- 
thorized ;  that,  within  the  next  forty  days,  all  books  con- 
taining doctrines  at  variance  with  the  determinations  of  the 
church,  shall  be  delivered  to   the   ecclesiastical  officers; 
that  all  persons  suspected  of  offending  in  these  respects,  or 
of  being  present  at  unlawful  meetings,  or  of  favouring  such 
meetings,  or  the  errors  taught  in  them,  shall  be  committed 
to  the  bishop's  prison,  to  be  dealt  with  at  his  pleasure, 
during  a  space  not  exceeding  three  months ;  and  if  such 
persons  fail  to  clear  themselves  of   the  charges  brought 
against  them,  or  shall  not -abjure  their  errors  if  convicted, 
or  shall  relapse  into  error  after  such  abjuration,  then  the 
officers  of  the  place,  both  civil  and  clerical,  shall  confer  to- 
gether, *  and  sentence  being  duly  pronounced,  the  magis- 
trate shall  take  into  hand  the  persons  so  offending,  and  any 
of  them,  and  cause  them  to  he  hurned  in  the  sight  of  all  the  * 
people,  to  the  intent  that  this  kind  of  punishment  may  be  a 
terror  to  others,  that  the  like  wicked  doctrine  and  heretical 
opinions,  and  the  authors  or  favourers  of  them,  may  not 
be  any  longer  maintained  within  the  realm.'  *     In  this  law 
we  see  how  the  king  could  use  a  subservient  parliament, 
and  how  the  clergy  could  use  a  selfish  and  blood-guilty 
king.     To  this  statute  another  was  added,  which  declared 
ecclesiastics  exempt  from  the  tribunal  of  the  magistrate  in 
criminal  cases,  a  demand  of  the  clergy  which  had  been  so 
often  resisted  by  our  sovereigns. 
Badby  ^^^         ^^^^  ^?^  perished  under  the  statute  for  the  burning  of 
burnt.        heretics  during  the  reign  of  Henry  lY. — William  Sawtre,  a 
clergyman,  and  John  Badby,  a  mechanic.     Tliey  had  both 
embraced  the  doctrine  of  Wycliffe  on  the  eucharist,  and  on 
some  other  points.     Sawtre  appears  to  have  been  somewhat 

*  Stat.  2  Henry  IV.  c.  15.  Coke,  Instit  p.  iii.  c.  5.  Strange  to  say,  Sir 
Edward's  exposition  of  the  reason  of  this  statute,  if  admitted,  would  seem  fully 
to  justify  it.  We  proscribe  the  leper,  and  heresy,  he  writes,  is  the  deadliest 
form  of  leprosy. — Bumet'a  ReformaUon^  bk.  i.  44, 45.  Fuller's  Church  Hist.  ii. 
385-390. 


THE   REACTION.  521 

wanting  in  consistency  and  firmness.     Badby  was  a  true  ^^^k  y. 

martyr.     Both  perished  at  the  stake.*     But  the  king  did     

not  rise  in  popular  estimation  by  this  policy.  Placards  were 
fixed  on  church  doors,  and  elsewhere,  denouncing  him  as  a  * 
perjured  tyrant  and  usurper.  The  blood  of  his  prede- 
cessor, and  of  other  noble  persons,  was  said  to  be  upon  him. 
Discontented  barons,  and  persecuted  "Wycliffites,  were  pre- 
pared to  join  in  league  against  him.  He  was  soon  obliged 
to  unsheath  the  sword  in  defence  of  his  crown ;  and  in 
future  he  does  not  cease  to  find  assailants  of  his  policy 
within  the  walls  of  parliament. 

In  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign  the  commons  petitioned  fptJiJ^f  tSo 
that  every  benefice  should  have  an  incumbent  always  resi-  ^°^^^^^- 
dent ;  that  no  Frenchman  who  had  taken  the  vows  of  a 
monk  should  remain  in  the  kingdom ;  that  all  priories  in 
the  hands  of  foreigners  should  be  seized ;  that  the  clergy 
and  the  religious  orders  should  be  required  to  do  hospitality 
from  their  revenues  ;  and  that  no  youth  under  the  age  of 
twenty-one  should  be  received  into  any  order  of  mendi- 
•cants.  These  were  demands  which  "Wycliffe  would  have 
applauded. 

When  the  next  parliament  assembled,  an  attempt  was 
made  by  the  chancellor  to  repress  this  freedom,  by  stating, 
in  behalf  of  the  king,  that  it  was  the  royal  pleasure  that  the 
church  should  be  maintained,  in  all  her  immunities,  as  in 
the  times  of  his  predecessors,  every  kingdom  being  like  the 
human  body,  possessing  a  right  side,  which  consists  of  the 
church,  and  a  left,  which  consists  of  the  temporal  powers, 
the  commonalty  being  as  the  remaining  members.  The 
reply  of  the  commons  to  this  arrogant  nonsense,  was  in  the 
shape  of  a  petition  praying  the  king  to  remove  his  confessor, 
and  two  other  persons  of  his  household.  Henry  now  saw 
that  hia  attempt  to  over-awe  the  reformers  by  high  talk  had 
not  been  successful.  He  not  only  assented  to  the  petition, 
but  added  that  he  was  prepared  to  displace  any  other  per- 
sons whose  presence  near  him  may  have  been  displeasing  " 
to  his  people.     Nothmg,  he  assured  his  faithful  commons, 

*  Wilkins,  iii.  254  et  seq.    Foxe,  i.  675,  687.     Fuller's  Chttrch  Hist.  ii. 
391.  392. 


522  LANCASTER  AISD   YORK. 

cha?  I'  ^^^  nearer  his  heart,  than  to  reign  as  a  good  king  ;  and  he 

proceeded  so  far  as  to  invite  the  house  to  Lay  freely  before 

him  whatever  measures  should  appear  to  them  as  likely  to 
•     conduce  to  the  honour  of  God,  or  the  welfare  of  the  state.* 

It  is  probable  that  by  this  language  the  king  hoped  to 
check,  rather  than  to  stimulate,  the  reforming  spirit  of  the 
commons.  But  if  such  was  his  policy,  it  was  not  successful. 
The  commons  prayed  that  the  persons  selected  by  the  king, 
in  the  settling  of  his  household,  should  be  persons  of  good 
reputation,  and  that  notification  should  be  given  them  of 
what  was  done  in  that  respect.  In  the  next  session,  they 
proceed  so  far  as  to  urge  that  the  king  should  provide  for 
the  expenses  of  his  establishment  without  aid  from  parlia 
ment.  On  the  matter  of  his  household  arrangements  Henry 
readily  assented ;  and  on  the  matter  of  his  expenses  he 
promised  to  do  as  desired  so  soon  as  convenient.f 

In  dealing  with  ecclesiastical  matters  the  commons  did 
not  scruple  to  complain  of  the  king  as  allowing  the  burdens 
of  his  wars  to  fall  much  too  lightly  on  the  clergy.  The 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  said,  in  reply,  that  the  clergj^ 
paid  their  tenths  more  frequently  than  the  laity  did  their 
fifteenths ;  that  they  sent  their  tenants  to  join  the  king's 
standard  whenever  required  to  do  so  ;  and  that  they  were 
themselves  doing  him  no  small  service  by  engaging  in  relig- 
ious services,  day  and  night,  in  his  favour.  The  Speaker 
touched  slightingly  on  those  spiritual  contributions  of  the 
clergy  to  which  the  archbishop  appeared  to  attach  so  much 
importance — whereupon  the  primate  threw  himself  at  the 
feet  of  the  king,  imploring  him  to  use  his  authority  for  the 
protection  of  the  church,  declaring  himself  willing  to  en- 
counter any  danger  from  fire  or  sword,  rather  than  see  the 
church  bereft  of  the  smallest  portion  of  her  rights,  j:  But 
the  commons  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their  course  by 
these  passionate  proceedings.  They  drew  up  a  statistical 
paper,  which  was  said  to  show,  that  the  possessions  of  the 
prelates,  the  abbots,  and  the  priors,  were  so  great,  that 
there  should  be  contributed  to  the  service  of  the  crown 

*  Plac.  Pari.  499-525.  f  Ibid.  ui.  525-549 

X  Wals.  Hist.  211  et  scq. 


THE  REACTION.  623 

from  that  source,  over  and  above  the  contribution  at  pre-  ^cn3.  Z' 
sent  made,  a  sum  equal  in  value  to  the  service  claimed  from 
13  earls,  1500  knights,  and  6200  esquires ! 

When  these  figures  came  before  the  king,  his  fortunes 
were  in  an  improved  condition.  He  could  afford  to  evade 
the  questions  thus  raised,  and  he  did  so.  Discouraged  at 
this  point,  the  commons  directed  their  attention  to  another. 
They  prayed  that  all  ecclesiastics  might  be  placed  in  sub- 
jection to  the  lay  tribunals  in  civil  cases,  as  in  former 
times ;  and  one  effect  of  the  recent  execution  of  John 
Badby,  was  to  lead  the  commons  to  petition  for  a  repeal  of 
the  statute  for  burning  heretics.  To  the  former  petition 
the  king  did  not — ^perhaps  dared  not — assent ;  with  the 
latter,  he  so  far  complied,  that  no  further  execution  for 
heresy  took  place  during  his  reign.* 

While  the  reformers  in  parliament  employed  themselves  ^^^ft^]^ 
after  this  manner,  the  prelates  were  assiduous  in  their  en-  *^<*^' 
deavours  to  strengthen  themselves  in  the  more  favourable 
position  which  new  circumstances  had  assigned  to  them. 
In  a  convocation  of  the-  elergy  in  1408,  a  series  of  '  constitu- 
tions,' attributed  to  archbishop  Arundel,  were  adopted, 
which  declared  that  the  pope,  as  holding  the  keys  of  life 
and  death  for  the  world  to  come,  is  to  us,  not  in  the  place 
of  man,  but  in  the  place  of  God  ;  that,  in  consequence,  the 
guilt  of  those  who  question  his  decisions  is  the  guilt  of 
rebellion  and  sacrilege  ;  that  to  bring  the  heresies  and  mis- 
chiefs which  have  been  so  long  tolerated  in  the  land  to  an 
end,  it  is  expedient  to  determine  that  no  man  shall  in  futare 
attempt  to  preach  without  the  licence  of  his  ordinary ;  that 
preaching  shall  be  restricted  in  all  cases  to  the  simple  mat- 
ters prescribed  in  the  instruction  provided  in  aid  ^of  the 
ignorance  of  priests,  and  beginning  ignorantia  sacerdotum  j 
that  any  clergyman  offending  against  this  rule  shall  forfeit 
his  temporalities,  and  be  liable  to  the  penalty  awarded  in 
the  recent  statute  against  heresy ;  that  any  church  into 
which  a  teacher  of  this  description  is  admitted  shall  be  laid 
under  an  interdict ;  that  no  schoolmaster  shall  mix  reli- 
gious instruction  with  the  teaching  of  youth,  nor  permit 

♦  Walsing.  Hist.  421,  422.     Plac.  Pari.  623. 


524  LANCASTER  AND  YORK. 

^0^1x5.  i'  ^iiscussion  about  the  sacraments,  nor  any  reading  of  the 

Scriptures  in  English  ;  that  all  books  of  the  kind  written  by 

John  Wycliffe,  and  others  of  his  time,  or  hereafter  to  be 
written,  be  banished  from  schools,  halls,  and  all  places 
whatsoever  ;  that  no  man  shall  hereafter  translate  any  part 
of  scripture  into  English  on  his  own  authority ;  and  that 
all  persons  convicted  of  making  or  using  such  translations 
shall  be  punished  as  favourers  of  error  and  heresy  ;  that  no 
man  shall  be  allowed  to  dispute  concerning  the  decrees  of 
the  church,  whether  given  in  her  general  or  provincial 
councils,  nor  to  take  exception  to  authorized  customs,  such 
as  making  pilgrimage  to  shrines,  adoring  images,  or  the 
cross,  on  pain  of  being  accounted  heretical ;  that  all  possible 
means  be  used  to  root  out  the  heresies  known  under  the 
'  new  and  damnable  name  of  Lollardy,'  as  everywhere,  so 
especially  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  once  so  famous  for 
its  orthodoxy,  but  of  late  so  poisoned  with  false  doctrines  ; 
and,  finally,  inasmuch  as  the  sin  of  heresy  is  more  enor- 
mous than  treason,  since  it  is  resistance  to  the  authority  of 
Heaven  as  present  in  the  church,  all  persons  suspected  of 
this  oflfence,  and  refusing  to  appear  before  the  proper  au- 
thorities when  cited,  shall  be  adjudged  guilty.* 

Honest  John  Foxe,  in  making  note  of  these  '  constitu- 
tions,' adds,  '  Who  would  have  thought,  by  these  laws  and 
constitutions,  so  substantially  founded,  so  circumspectly 
provided,  so  diligently  executed,  but  that  the  name  and 
memory  of  this  persecuted  sect  should  have  been  utterly 
rooted  up,  and  never  should  have  stood !  And  yet  such  be 
the  works  of  the  Lord,  passing  all  man's  admiration,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  so  far  was  it  off  that  the  number  and 
courage  of  tliese  good  men  were  indeed  vanquished,  that 
they  rather  multiplied  daily^  especially  in  London^  and 
Lincolnshire^  Norfolk^  Herefordshire^  in  Shrewsbury^  in 
Calais^  and  divers  other  places. 'f 

*  Labbe,  Concilia^  vii.  1935-1948.  The  licence  thus  given  to  the  clergy 
did  not  prevent  the  commons  from  passing  a  rigorous  law  against  the  old  evil  of 
provisors,  first-fruits,  &c. — Stat.  6  Henry  IV.  In  the  following  year  laws  still 
more  stringent  were  passed,  forbidding  the  disposal  of  livings  by  provisors, 
either  on  the  part  of  the  court  of  Rome,  or  of  the  crown. — 7  Henry  IV.  c.  6,  8. 
Collier,  i.  620-62'7. 

f  Acts  and  Mon,  i.  986,  98Y. 


THE   EEACTION.  625 

Care,  it  will  be  seen,  was  taken  to  remind  the  parties  book  v. 

concerned,  of  the  existence  of  the  '  late  statute '  against     

heresy ;  and  that  the  terrors  of  that  statute  might  not  slum- 
ber, the  object  of  these  '  constitutions '  appears  to  have  been, 
to  give  as  wide  a  latitude,  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  deep  an 
enormity,  as  possible,  to  the  crime  of  heresy.  From  this 
time  forth,  the  slightest  sign  of  disaffection  towards  received 
opinions  or  customs  might  be  construed  as  warranting  sus- 
picion of  heretical  pravity ;  while  that  pravity  itself  was 
declared  to  be  a  more  deadly  sin  than  treason — the  sin  for  . 
which  men  were  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered,  being  treason 
only  against  man,  while  heresy  was  treason  against  God. 

During  the  ascendency  of  the  House  of  Lancaster,  many  i-ord  cob- 
Englishmen  perished,  under  the  charge  of  heresy.  Of  these, 
the  most  conspicuous  was  Lord  Cobham ;  '  a  man,'  says 
Horace  Walpole,  '  whose  virtue  made  him  a  reformer,  and 
whose  courage  made  him  a  martyr.'  The  fate  of  Cobham 
is  the  great  blot  in  the  reign  of  Henry  Y.  It  is  true.  Lord 
Cobham  was  known  as  a  disciple  of  Wycliffe,  and  as  a  zeal- 
ous patron  of  the  class  of  persons  known  as  "Wycliffites. 
But  his  disaffection  embraced  neither  disloyalty  nor  im- 
piety. It  had  respect  to  alleged  errors  and  corruptions, 
which  were  said  to  be  rooted  in  the  existing  church  system ; 
and  his  honest  aim  was  to  remove  these  disfigurements, 
through  the  influence  of  a  more  enlightened  public  opinion. 
But  Henry  Y.  was  a  skilful  and  brave  soldier,  and  nothing 
more.  His  slight  attachment  to  literature  had  respect  to  it 
only  in  its  relation  to  chivalry.  He  cared  nothing  about 
popular  liberty — did  not  understand  it.  With  him,  it  was 
as  much  a  matter  of  course  that  a  man  should  obey  his  priest, 
as  that  a  soldier  should  do  the  bidding  of  his  officer.  Such 
submission  Cobham  was  not  prepared  to  render,  and  as  he 
could  not  cease  to  be  honest,  he  was  not  permitted  to  live.* 

Archbishop   Chicheley,  who   succeeded  Arundel,   sur-  persecu- 
passed  him   in  zeal  against  the  reformers.     He  ordered  cMcheieyJ 
special  inquisition  to  be  made  through   every  diocese  in 
his  province  twice  a  year,  that  no  persons  suspected  of 

*  The  case  of  Lord  Cobham  is  dispassionately  considered  by  Sharon  Turner, 
ii.  451-454  ;  and  by  Dean  Milman,  v.  529,  531-534. 


526  LANCASTER   AND   YOKK. 

■^cLa?  i'  ^^^^^7  might  anywhere  escape  detection.  In  any  parish 
which  had  fallen  nnder  suspicion,  three  respectable  inhabi- 
tants might  be  selected,  and  made  to  answer  the  inquiries 
of  official  persons  on  oath,  touching  any  persons  or  circum- 
stances of  their  neighborhood.  Of  the  multitudes  who  were 
apprehended  by  such  means,  some  recanted ;  others  with- 
stood much  inquisitorial  scrutiny,  and  remained  long  in 
prison  ;  while  others  saw  their  whole  property  confiscated. 
During  the  reigns  of  Henry  Y.  and  YI.,  scarcely  a  year 
passed  in  which  men  might  not  be  seen  perishing  at  the 
stake  as  heretics,  either  in  Smithfield  or  on  Tower  Hill. 
In  the  registry  of  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  some  time  later, 
more  than  five  hundred  names  are  found  as  those  of  persons 
against  whom  proceedings  had  been  taken  on  the  charge  or 
suspicion  of  heresy.^  We  know  not  that  even  these  were 
all  the  names  so  registered ;  but  the  history  of  Lincoln  in 
this  respect  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  course  of 
proceeding  over  the  whole  kingdom.  In  the  earlier  part  of 
this  century,  the  law  provided  that  the  property  of  a  heretic 
should  be  divided  into  three  parts,  the  first  of  which  fell 
to  the  king,  the  second  to  the  city  in  which  the  conviction 
occurred,  the  third  to  the  judge  1  Subsequently,  the  prop- 
erty confiscated  went  wholly  to  the  crown.f 
Effect  of  the  It  requires  some  effort  of  imagination  to  estimate  to  the 
full  the  sufi'ering  which  must  have  been  diffused  through 
the  homes  of  the  people  of  England  by  this  network  of 
agencies.  The  more  so,  inasmuch  as  it  was  scarcely  possi- 
ble that  the  sincere  reformer  should  guard  against  betray- 
ing his  feeling  continually.  The  profligate  would  take  note 
of  his  seriousness.  Even  that  would  be  enough  to  war- 
rant suspicion.  The  superstitious  would  observe  what  he 
did,  or  abstained  from  doing,  in  regard  to  the  religious  ob- 
servances of  the  times ;  and  from  such  appearances  would 
form  their  conclusions,  and  indulge  in  their  dangerous  talk. 
]^ot  to  worship  as  others  did,  or  not  to  worship  at  all,  w^as 
alike  perilous.    To  be  in  any  respect  singular  was  to  be  sus- 

*  Walsinglmm.     Foxe,  Acts  and  3fon,  ii.  33.  Collier,  i,  632,  634,  645. 
f  Foxe,  Lyndewoode,  and  Wilkins  (vol.  iii.),  furnish  large  evidence  on  this 
subject. 


measures. 


THE  EEACTION.  52T 

pected.  There  were  probably  enemies  to  the  hierarchy  ^ca^.Z' 
who  could  reconcile  themselves  to  a  life  of  false  appear- 
ances,  on  the  plea  that  the  foe  with  whom  they  had  to  deal 
was  base  and  treacherous,  and  as  such  had  no  claim  to  be 
dealt  with  otherwise.  Such  men  might  long  escape  detec- 
tion, and  the  number  of  such  was  probably  con-si der able. 
But  the  conscientious  Lollard  could  hardly  exist  without 
being  known  as  such,  and  must  have  felt  that  his  property, 
and  liberty,  and  life,  were  constantly  at  the  mercy  of  any 
malevolent  or  misguided  informer  in  his  neighbourhood. 
So  did  the  clergy  perpetuate  and  augment  the  disaffection 
of  the  people.  The  best  and  the  boldest  were  almost  every- 
where arrayed  against  them. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  aims  of  the  dis-  Excesses  of 
contented  were  always  restricted  to  safe  and  reasonable  fomlrs. 
limits.  The  want  of  a  little  more  worldly  wisdom  did 
much,  and  the  persecutions  which  followed  them  did  more, 
to  dispose  the  passions  of  some  of  the  sufferers  towards  the 
most  reprehensible  maxims  and  proceedings.  The  conduct 
of  the  disaffected  was  at  times  such  as  no  government  could 
be  expected  to  tolerate.  In  an  outbreak  at  Abingdon,  for 
example,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  YI.,  in  which  the  monastery 
of  that  place  was  assailed,  and  the  clergy  greatly  menaced, 
the  leader  of  the  multitude  is  said  to  have  declared  that  he 
would  make  priests'  heads  as  common  as  sheep's  heads. 
His  own  head  was  exposed  on  London-bridge.* 

But  the  fault  of  the  government  and  of  the  clergy,  was  This  no  suf- 
in  refusing  to  distinguish  between  the  conscientious  and  cuS°for  tho 
the  merely  turbulent — or  between  the  reasonable  and  un-  *'^^'^^* 
reasonable  in  the  complaints  of  the  better  sort.     Opinions 
described  as  hostile,  not  only  to  church  authority,  but  to  all 
social  order,  were  exaggerated,  and  attributed  in  their  exag- 
gerated form  to  the  most  moderate  reformers,  in  common 
with  the  most  violent.     But,  had  the  mode  of  attack  been 
more  discriminating,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
result  would  have  been  greatly  different.     As  commonly 
happens  in  such  cases,  it  was  found,  that  to  ask  for  little, 
was  to  be  charged  with  magnifying  trifles,  and  with  foster- 

*  Hall,  166.     Fabyan,  422.     Stowe,  372. 


528  LANCASTER  AND  TOEK. 

"cliA?.  r  ^'^^  discontent  without  reason  ;  while  to  ask  for  much,  was 

to  be  denounced  as  impious  and  disloyal.     The  foregone 

conclusion,  in  either  case,  was  a  conclusion  against  change. 

In  the  first  parliament  under  Henry  Y.,  the  commons 
renewed  their  complaints  against  the  wealth,  and  the  excep- 
tionable lives,  of  the  clergy.  But  Chicheley,  who  had 
then  become  primate,  took  alarm,  and  spared  no  pains  to 
divert  the  attention  of  the  king  and  the  nation  from  such 
dangerous  questions  to  the  "glory  of  a  war  with  France. 
"With  a  less  chivalrous  king  this  policy  might  not  have  been 
availing.  But  with  Henry  Y.  it  was  successful,  and,  for  a 
while,  our  history  was  much  influenced  by  that  success, 
g^ct^^in  In  1441,  the  University  of  Oxford  chose  twelve  of  its 
members  to  examine  the  writings  of  Wycliffe,  and  the 
report  made,  presented  two  hundred  and  sixty-seven  opin- 
ions, taken  from  those  writings,  which  were  described  as 
*  worthy  of  fire.'  Besides  the  opinions,  said  these  worthy 
'  masters,'  which  merit  extreme  condemnation,  there  are 
many  more  of  like  quality ;  and  they  assure  the  primate, 
that  the  disciples  of  the  man  who  had  filled  the  university 
with  such  doctrines,  were  so  many  throughout  the  province 
of  Canterbury,  that  only  by  the  sharpest  process  would  it 
be  possible  to  cleanse  the  field  of  the  church  from  such 
tares.  Such  was  Oxford — so  changed  from  her  former  self 
— in  1441 ;  and  such  continued  to  be  her  state  to  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  all  this,  moreover,  she  was 
what  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  that  time  had  made  her ; 
for  the  clerical  influence,  which  had  been  kept  in  some 
check  during  the  last  century,  had  now  become  exclusive 
and  dominant  in  all  her  aflfairs.* 

Such,  from  various  causes,  was  the  revived  influence  of 
the  English  clergy  at  this  time,  that  the  luxury,  pomp,  and 
pretension  of  the  order  had  never  been  greater  in  our  his- 

*  Wood's  j^iis^.  cf  Antiq.  Univers.  Oxon.  i.  216,  217.  Such  was  the  ignor- 
ance of  many  of  these  ecclesiastical  persons,  that  the  English  convocation,  in 
1432,  passed  a  canon  which  required  that  no  man  should  be  made  a  bishop  or  a 
vicar-general  who  had  not  taken  a  degree. — Ducke's  Chicheley^  40.  Six  years 
later,  the  University  of  Oxford  laments  over  the  general  unfitness  of  the  clergy 
for  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  urges  that  no  man  should  be  appointed 
to  a  benefice  of  any  description  who  had  not  graduated. — Ibid.  45.  Fuller,  ii. 
409-412. 


THE  EEACTION. 

lory.     Kot  a  dogma,  not  a  usage,  that  had  been  censured  in  book  v. 

the  outspoken  times  of  Edward  III.  or  of  Richard  II.,  was     

surrendered,  or  in  any  degree  softened.  On  the  contrary, 
so  great  was  the  rebound  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  that  the 
excesses  of  the  past  were  all  more  or  less  exaggerated.  The 
Franciscan  learnt  to  change  his  imdergarment  of  hair-cloth 
for  one  of  the  softest  linen ;  his  waistcord  of  rope  for  one 
of  silk ;  and  his  barefooted  travel  for  the  use  of  gandals, 
carefully  wrought  and  richly  adorned  by  devout  nuns,  who 
found  agreeable  employment  in  such  works  of  piety.  The 
Dominicans  innovated  after  the  same  manner  on  the  insti- 
tute of  their  founder.  At  the  same  time  the  houses  and 
churches  of  these  orders  rose  to  the  splendour  of  palaces. 
To  the  hostile  criticism  sometimses  provoked  by  such  ap- 
pearances, it  was  deemed  enough  to  answer  that  the  pope 
had  not  taken  exception  to  them  ;  and  that  to  the  Holy  See, 
and  not  to  themselves,  pertained  the  wealth  deemed  so  in- 
consistent wdth  their  professed  renunciation  of  all  ecclesias- 
tical endowments.*  But  if  such  was  the  course  of  the 
religious  orders,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  such  tenden- 
cies w^ere  still  more  conspicuous  in  the  lives  of  the  secular 
clergy.  And  such  was  the  fact.  Tlie  palace  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  York,  brother  to  the  great  earl  of  Warwick,  in 
the  time  of  Edward  lY.,  was  more  Oriental  than  European 
in  its  gorgeousness,  and  in  its  endless  adaptations  to  the 
luxurious  taste  of  its  owner.f  Much  was  sometimes  said  in 
parliament,  and  even  at  court,  concerning  such  ostentation 
and  indulgence,  as  unbecoming  in  spiritual  persons.  But 
the  passions  fed  by  such  means  were  not  to  be  controlled. 
One  of  the  hardships  imposed  on  the  higher  clergy  in  the 
time  of  Henry  Y.  was,  that  they  should  not  travel  with  gilt 
bridles,  nor  with  more  than  twenty  horses  in  their  train. 
Such  restrictions  must  have  been  deemed  expedient,  if  not 
necessary,  or  the  scandal  of  publishing  them  would  never 
have  been  incurred.:}: 

But  if  an  archbishop  of  York  under  Edward  lY.  was  so 

*  Turner,  Hist.  Eng.  iii.  128,  129. 

•j-  See  Fuller's  account  of  an  enormous  feast  given  by  this  prelate. — Church 
Hist.  ii.  4'7'7. 

X  Wilkins,  ii.  413. 

Vol.  I.— 34 


530  LANCASTER  AND   YORK. 

^(Sa?7'  well  known  for  the  princely  splendour  of  his  establishment, 

one  of  his  predecessors,  who  died  on  the  accession  of  Henry 

YI.,  was  no  less  notorious  for  the  licentiousness  of  his  life, 
even  to  his  old  age,  his  contempt  of  the  divine  precepts 
being  compensated  by  his  zeal  against  heretics.  Our  great 
dramatist,  too,  following  old  histories,  has  described  the 
death-scene  of  cardinal  Beaufort,  bishop  of  "Winchester,  in 
that  same  reign — how  the  visions  of  power  which  ended  in 
weakness,  and  of  wealth,  which  passed  away  as  a  shadow, 
haunted  his  last  hours. '^  With  such  lives  in  the  governing, 
it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  manners  which  obtained  among  the 
governed. 

In  a  petition  presented  to  parliament  by  the  clergy  in 
1449,  it  is  stated  that  many  of  their  order,  both  religious 
and  secular,  had  been  indicted  for  felony,  and  the  petitioners 
do  not  blush  to  pray  that  no  priest  charged  with  rape  or  fel- 
ony at  any  time  before  the  1st  of  June  ^6a?j5,  should  be  account- 
ed guilty,  on  condition  that  a  noble  be  paid  for  each  priest 
in  the  kingdom  to  the  king's  exchequer.  The  answer  of  the 
king  was,  let  the  nobles  be  voted  by  the  convocations  of 
York  and  Canterbury,  and  let  it  so  be.  The  convocations 
voted  that  the  sum  should  be  paid,  and  the  enactment 
pending  on  that  payment  became  a  statute  of  the  realm. f 

We  are  scarcely  surprised,  accordingly,  that  an  arch- 
bishop in  the  year  1455  should  be  found  describing  certain 
rectors  and  vicars  as  having  become  openly  vagrant  and 

*  '  This  man,'  says  the  Chronicler,  '  was  son  to  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of 
Lancaster,  descended  of  an  honourable  lineage,  but  more  noble  in  blood  than 
notable  in  learning,  high  in  stomach,  and  huge  in  countenance,  rich  above  the 
measure  of  all  men,  and  to  few  liberal,  disdainful  of  his  kindred,  and  dreadful  to 
his  lovers,  perferring  money  before  friendship,  many  things  begiuHing  and  noth- 
ing preforming.  His  insatiable  covetousness,  and  hope  of  long  life,  made  him 
both  to  forget  God,  his  prince,  and  himself,  in  his  latter  days ;  for  his  doctor, 
John  Baker,  his  privy  coimcillor  and  his  chaplain,  wrote,  that  he,  lying  on  his 
bed,  said  these  words :  '  Why  should  I  die,  having  so  much  riches  ?  If  the 
whole  realm  would  save  my  life,  I  am  able  either  by  policy  to  get  it,  or  by  riches 
to  buy  it.  Fie  !  will  not  death  be  hired  ?  Will  money  do  nothing  ?  When  my 
nephew  of  Bedford  died  I  thought  myself  half  up  the  wheel.  But  when  my 
other  nephew  of  Gloucester  deceased,  then  I  thought  myself  able  to  be  equal 
with  kings — and  so  thought  to  increase  my  treasure  in  hope  to  have  worn  a  triple 
crown.  But  I  see  now  the  world  faileth  me ;  and  so  am  I  deceived,  praying 
you  all  to  pray  for  me.' ' — Hall,  210,  211.  Such  was  the  character  of  this  man, 
that  he  was  charged  with  having  hired  an  assassin  to  murder  Henry  V.,  when 
prince  Henry,  and  with  having  urged  the  prince  to  depose  his  father  Henry  IV. 
in  his  lifetime. — Hollinshed,  591.     Ducke's  Chicheley. 

f  Rolls  Pari  v.  153.     Statutes,  1.  352. 


THE  EEACTION.  531 

dissolute,  wandering  throngli  the  kingdom  in  searcli  of  gain,  book  v. 

neglecting  tlicir  spiritual  duties,  wasting  their  revenues,      

allowing  their  houses,  and  even  their  churches,  to  fall  into 
decay,  giving  themselves  to  feasting,  drunkenness,  fornica- 
tion, and  other  vices,  being  often,  not  only  unskilled  in  the 
work  of  teaching,  but  so  ignorant  as  to  be  incapable  of  such 
service.*  Some  ten  years  later,  the  archbishop  of  York 
lays  open  a  similar  state  of  things  as  existing  in  his  j^rov- 
ince,  and  enjoins  that  no  clergyman  should  be  present  at 
forbidden  sports  and  plays,  should  frequent  taverns,  or  be 
seen  in  the  company  of  lewd  women,  f  To  expect  great 
purity  of  manners  in  an  opulent  establishment  in  such  times 
would  be  unreasonable.  But  the  facts,  and  the  language, 
we  have  adduced,  suggest  that  the  corruption  in  those  days 
must  have  been  deep  and  general,  much  beyond  the  ordi- 
nary in  such  cases. 

That  there  were  churchmen  who  condemned  these  evils, 
may  be  accepted  as  evidence  that  the  sense  of  propriety  was 
not  wholly  extinct  in  that  quarter.  But  the  effect  of  such 
admonitions  seems  to  have  borne  too  near  a  resemblance  to 
that  usually  produced  by  royal  proclamations  against  vice. 
The  rebuke  was  accepted,  but  amendment  was  postponed. 

In  the  face  of  such  facts  it  will  not  be  supposed  that  Decline  of 
learning  was  in  a  very  satisfactory  condition.  We  have  seen  ^^^^^^^' 
how  Oxford  could  acquit  herself  in  regard  to  the  doctrine 
and  disciples  of  Wycliife  in  1441.  At  that  time,  the  merid- 
ian of  Oxford  seems  hardly  distinguishable  from  that  of 
Salamanca  or  Madrid  in  their  worst  days.  We  feel  little 
surprised,  accordingly,  when  we  find  an  ex-chancellor  of 
Oxford  complaining  heavily,  in  1455,  of  the  decay  of  learn- 
ing in  that  university.  The  causes  of  this  state  of  things 
are  largely  enumerated,  such  as  the  liberty  of  non-residence, 
the  custom  of  excessive  pluralities,  the  open  sale  of  univer- 
sity degrees  to  the  incompetent  and  unworthy,  and  the  fre- 
quent promotion  of  such  men  by  papal  authority,  or  by 
court  and  family  influence.  Inducement  to  study  was  in 
this  manner  superseded,  and  the  parishes  of  England  were 
filled  with  men  so  wanting  in  fitness  for  their  ofiice,  that 

*  Wilkins,  Co7i.  iii.  3'73,  3'74.  f  Ibid. 


532  LANCASTER  AND   YOEK. 

'^c^S  i'  '  *^®  country  was  overspread  with  ignorance.'  *     The  relig- 

ions  houses  added  greatly  to  these  disorders,  by  possessing 

themselves  of  livings  as  endowments,  and  by  showing  them- 
selves much  more  concerned  about  the  tithe  than  about  the 
teaching.  The  foundations  in  Oxford  had  become  so  poor, 
that  scholars  often  became  travelling  mendicants  to  obtain 
the  means  of  subsistence — the  chancellor  himself,  in  his 
pity  for  their  necessities,  giving  them  certificates  in  that 
capacity.  Two  of  these  begging  scholars  made  their  call  at 
the  castle-gate  of  a  nobleman.  Their  credentials  stated, 
that,  among  other  claims  to  public  sympathy  and  favour, 
the  bearers  possessed  the  gift  of  poesy.  Whereupon  the 
baron  instructed  his  servants  to  take  the  strangers  to  the 
well,  and  placing  one  in  one  bucket  and  his  companion  in 
the  other,  to  let  them  drop  alternately  into  the  water  until 
each  should  have  composed  a  suitable  verse  on  this  novelty 
in  his  experience.  The  baron  and  his  companions,  it  is 
said,  made  themselves  exceedingly  merry  over  this  exhibi- 
tion, and  the  scholars,  having  each  furnished  the  verse 
required  from  him,  were  allowed  to  depart.f  That  brutal- 
ity of  this  sort  was  a  common  thing  we  do  not  suppose,  but 
that  such  a  proceeding  should  have  taken  place  at  all,  sug- 
gests much  as  to  the  status  of  the  man  of  letters,  and  the  con- 
dition of  society  about  him  in  those  days. 

It  would  be  well  if  even  such  indications  of  feeling  on 
the  part  of  the  English  nobility  in  the  fifteenth  century 
were  the  worst  to  be  recorded  of  them.  But  such  is  not 
the  case.  Their  coarseness,  and  ignorance  of  letters,  are 
among  the  most  venial  of  their  faults.  The  strong  features 
in  their  character  are  of  a  darker  and  more  revolting  de- 
scription, 
rpijg  With  the  premature  death  of  Henry  Y.  came  the  minor- 

arisfocracy  i^Jj  ^^^  ^lic  fceblc  sway,  of  Henry  YI. ;  and  from  the  acces- 
avii  War.    ^^i^n  of  Henry  YI.  to  the  death  of  Eichard  III.^ — an  interval 
of  nearly  half  a  century — the  supreme  power  in  England 
became  a  prize  to  be  contended  for  by  a  succession  of  oppo- 
site factions.     In  those  factions  there  were,  as  usual,  the 

*  Wood's  Antig.  Univer.  Oxon.  lib.  i.  220. 
f  Wood's  Hist.  Univer.  Oxon.  225. 


THE  REACTION.  533 

leaders  and  the  led ;  but  the  absence  of  principle,  of  lion-  book  v. 

our,  of  humanity,  by  which  these  interminable  combina-     

tions  on  either  side  were  characterized,  was  such  as  to  show, 
that  for  a  time  at  least,  there  was  nothing  in  the  maxims  or 
in  the  spirit  of  Machiavel  that  might  not  find  a  large  home  in 
England.  The  irregular  accession  of  Henry  lY.  appears  to 
have  done  much  to  .destroy  the  divinity  which  is  said  to  be 
about  the  person  of  a  king.  Henceforth,  sovereignty,  like 
any  other  elevation,  might  be  seized  by  the  hand  of  the 
strong,  according  to  circumstances ;  and  each  aspirant  had 
his  followers,  who  hoped  to  share  in  the  spoil  consequent  on 
his  success.  In  pursuit  of  this  object,  the  ties  of  gratitude, 
of  friendship,  of  nature,  all  became  as  nothing.  So  intense 
had  the  passions  of  men  become,  that  restraint  was  hardly 
thought  of,  except  as  seen  to  be  necessary  to  success.  Every 
struggle  became  a  struggle,  not  merely  for  office  or  emolu- 
ment, but  for  life  or  death.  Men  had  become  to  so  fright- 
ful an  extent  unscrupulous  and  untrustworthy,  that  the 
victors,  whether  in  the  court  or  in  the  field,  never  deemed 
themselves  safe  until  assured  that  the  vanquished  were  no 
more.  When  court  intrigue  broke  out  into  open  war,  the 
cry  of  the  opposing  forces  commonly  was — no  quarter  ;  and 
those  who  were  so  unhappy  as  to  become  captives,  became 
such  to  be  butchered  in  cold  blood,  often  amidst  cruel 
taunts  and  mockings.  Englishmen  seemed  to  live,  not  to 
feel  that  they  had  really  a  country,  but  simply  to  follow 
their  chiefs,  and  to  do  their  bidding,  how^ever  atrocious.  In 
these  strifes,  their  hatred  of  each  other  was  more  bitter  than 
they  had  ever  manifested  towards  a  foreign  enemy.  Pas- 
sions are  hereditary,  and  the  war  passion  through  the  nation, 
seems  by  this  time  to  have  become  so  strong  from  indul- 
gence, that,  in  the  absence  of  an  outlet  abroad,  it  broke  forth 
in  demoniacal  force  at  home.  The  nobles  were  proud  of 
their  high  blood,  of  their  territorial  wealth,  of  their  chival- 
rous courage,  and  of  their  supposed  capacity  to  judge  of 
affairs,  and  to  act  in  relation  to  them.  But  to  mental  cul- 
ture, and  to  the  refinements  which  spring  from  it,  they  were 
marvellously  indifferent.  The  earl  of  Worcester  and  Lord 
Elvers  were  exceptions  to  this  description  ;  but  both  were 


534  LANCASTER  AND  YORK. 

^HA?  i'  ^^ong  those  who  perished  under  the  hand  of  the  execn- 

tioner.     Of  the  former,  Caxton  writes, — '  The  axe  then  did 

at  one  blow  cut  off  more  learning  than  was  in  the  heads  of 
all  the  surviving  nobility  ;'  and  Caxton  knew  the  men  of 
whom  he  thus  spoke.  Devoid  of  the  slightest  tincture  of 
letters,  their  home  was  with  their  field  sports  and  their  ten- 
antry, or  with  the  retainers  who  fed  .upon  their  venison, 
and  whose  Homeric  feastings  often  left  their  heads  too  light 
in  the  evening  to  be  well  at  ease  in  the  morning.  We  might 
have  supposed  that  the  unsettledness,  the  barbarism,  and  the 
miseries  which  were  diffused  by  such  tastes  and  habits 
would  have  sufiiced  to  teach  men  the  needed  lesson  in  less 
than  half  a  century.  But  it  was  not  so.  So  terrible  was 
the  scourge  which  thus  fell  on  all  the  great  families,  that 
when  the  first  Tudor  ascended  the  throne,  he  found  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  parliament  which  included  a  House  of 
Commons,  but  which  could  hardly  be  said  to  retain  a  peer- 
age. Apart  from  the  clergy,  the  Upper  House  had  become 
a  faint  shadow  of  its  former  self. 

Of  course,  the  men  who  engaged  in  these  contentions, 
did  their  best  to  assign  plausible  reasons  in  support  of  them, 
though  the  reasons  alleged  were  often  far  from  being  the 
real  spring  of  their  actions.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  YI., 
those  who  governed  in  the  place  of  the  king  were  accused 
of  governing  corruptly,  and  the  government  and  the  church 
were  said  to  be  leagued  together  to  infringe  the  liberty  of 
the  subject,  and  to  persecute  religious  opinion.  When  thcf 
king  came  to  years,  and  married  Margaret  of  Anjou,  the 
masculine  and  haughty  temper  of  the  queen  caused  the  lines 
which  separated  between  faction  and  faction  to  become 
stronger,  until  civil  war,  and  the  dethronement  of  the  house  ■ 
of  Lancaster  in  favour  of  the  house  of  York  w^as  the  result. 
Edward  lY.,  who  owed  his  sovereignty  to  the  revolution 
thus  brought  about  by  the  great  earl  of  "Warwick,  could 
hardly  feel  himself  a  king  in  the  presence  of  the  authority 
assumed  by  that  famous  king-maker.  His  secret  marriage 
with  a  subject,  and  one  not  connected  with  the  great  fam- 
ilies ;  and  his  disposition  to  elevate  other  families,  especially 
the  family  of  his  queen,  to  counterbalance  the  influence  of 


THE   REACTION.  535 

Warwick  and  Ins  adherents,  led  to  feud,  to  civil  war,  and  ^^^^  J- 

to  a  temporary  restoration  of  the  dethroned  Henry.     But     

Edward  lY.,  though  a  Sardanapalus  in  time  of  peace,  could 
become  a  sage  and  a  hero  in  the  time  of  war.  He  won  his  way 
back  to  the  throne  from  which  he  had  been  expelled,  num- 
bering Warwick  himself  among  the  slain.  What  Warwick 
had  been  to  Edward  lY.  the  powerful  duke  of  Buckingham 
became  to  Eichard  III.  He  had  favoured  the  elevation  of 
Eichard,  but  his  expectations  became  great,  and  he  perished 
in  attempting  to  demolish  the  work  of  his  own  hands.  And 
it  is  impossible  to  say  how  long  this  succession  of  tragedies 
— of  foul  frauds  and  dark  deeds — would  have  continued, 
had  not  the  rival  claims  of  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancas- 
ter been  made  to  meet  in  the  person  of  Henry  YH.,  and  had 
not  the  character  of  that  monarch  been  such  as  it  has  be- 
come in  history. 


CHAPTER  11. 

THE   DAWN. 

CHASr  T^HE  jealousies,   and    the  ultimate  strifes  between  the 
Th^  -^   houses  of  Lancaster  and  York,  were  not  favourable  to 

pa°riiiment  regularity  in  anything ;  and  the  general  unsettledness  of 
Lancas-  ^  affairs,  during  that  period,  is  reflected  in  our  parliamentary 
Yorkists,  history.  But  the  rivalries  which  were  afoot  made  each 
party  desirous  to  secure  adherents,  and  from  this  cause, 
more  than  from  enlightened  considerations,  the  power  of  the 
English  parliament  may  be  said  to  have  increased,  rather 
than  to  have  diminished,  during  the  fifteenth  century.  Tlie 
title  of  the  Lancastrians  was  well  known  to  be  a  parliamen- 
tary title  ;  and  if  the  Yorkists  based  their  claim  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  legitimacy,  they  were  careful  to  strengthen  their 
hold  on  the  popular  feeling  by  affecting  to  discountenance 
the  abitrary  and  intolerant  policy  of  the  rival  dyasty.  It  is 
in  consonance  with  these  facts,  that  we  find  the  populace, 
and  the  more  wealthy  among  the  commonalty,  especially  in 
London  and  the  adjacent  counties,  with  the  Yorkists.  Ed- 
ward lY.  indeed,  while  he  had  fair  words  for  the  House  of 
Commons,  was  not  a  prince  to  appreciate  such  institutions. 
The  records  of  parliament  during  his  reign  are  singularly 
meagre  and  imsatisfactory.  We  know,  however,  that,  in 
common  with  all  the  leaders  of  his  times,  he  could  strain 
the  law  of  treason  to  serve  his  purpose  ;  and  that  he  intro- 
duced the  bad  custom  of  calling  upon  his  subjects  to  furnish 
him  with  loans  under  the  new  name  of  'benevolences,' 
evading  by  this  means  the  authority  of  parliament  in  regard 
to  taxation.  Had  his  life  been  prolonged,  he  would  have 
been  compelled  to  desist  from  that  course.     Immediately 


THE  DAWN.  537 

after  liis   decease,  the  commons  protested,  in  strong  and   ^^^^^J- 

even  bitter  terms,  against  his  proceedings  in  this  form,  and     

Eichard  III.  promised  to  avoid  such  evil  precedents.*  We 
have  seen  something  of  the  firmness  with  which  the  com- 
mons remonstrated  against  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
grievances  under  Henry  lY.  and  Henry  Y. ;  and  if  such 
symptoms  of  public  feeling  are  of  less  frequent  occurrence  in 
the  next  two  reigns,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
feeling  abroad  had  ceased  to  be  the  same.  Hence,  if  settled 
times  are  to  come,  the  landmarks  of  the  constitution  may 
be  said  to  be  safe,  and  patriotic  men  may  hope  to  take  their 
stand  upon  them. 

But  at  present  the  times  are  not  settled.  Through  this 
whole  century  there  is  a  ferment  of  religious  feeling,  allied 
more  or  less  with  the  new  religious  opinions,  which  is  not 
to  be  allayed.  Tlie  party  on  the  side  of  the  past  is  strong, 
but  the  party  on  the  side  of  something  different  from  the 
past  is  also  strong,  and  promises  to  become  stronger. 

The  old  jealousy  between  the  clergy  and  the  religious  The  secular 
orders  was  perpetuated  and  much  embittered  through  this  saSby' 
period.     The  mendicant  orders,  especially  the  Franciscans,  gious 
continued    their    assaults    on    the    doctrine   of   Wycliffe. 
Treatise  after  treatise  was  published  on  that  subject.f     But, 
strange  to  say,  this  did  not  prevent  these  disputants  from 
using  the  weapons  of  the  reformers  when  assailing  the  secu- 
lar clergy.     They  denounced,  almost  in  the  terms  of  "Wyc- 
liffe,  the  '  endowing '  of  the  church,  as  the  great  source  of 
her  corruption.     In  1425,  one  William  Russell,  at  the  head 
of  a  Franciscan  convent  in  London,  denied  the  divine  au- 
thority of  tithes,  and  insisted  that  they  ought  not  to  be  paid 
to  the  parochial  clergy.     They  might  rest  on  human  law, 
or  on  long  custom,  but  according  to  the  Scripture,  they 
should  be  left  to  be  applied  to  pious  or  charitable  uses,  at 

*  Rot.  Pari.  vi.  193,  241.  1  Ric.  III.  c.  2.  The  clergy,  in  the  end,  came 
to  be  favourable  to  the  ascendency  of  the  Yorkists  ;  but  it  was  in  consequence 
of  the  crimes  and  devastations  perpetrated  by  the  Lancastrians  from  the  north, 
with  the  real  or  apparent  connivance  of  Queen  Margaret.  They  did  not  take 
much  part  in  affairs  during  the  civil  wars. 

I  Gualter  Dysse,  Richard  Maydesley,  and  R.  Lanynfans,  are  among  the 
names  mentioned  frequently,  but  the  first  place  in  this  polemical  list  must  be 
assigned  to  Netter,  better  known  as  Thomas  Walden. 


538  LANCASTER   AND   YOEK. 

J^ooK  Y.  tlie  will  of  the  donor.     Great  excitement  was  produced  by 

this  teaching.     But  such  were  the  speculations  which  were 

being   diffused  within  the  enclosure  of  the  church,  and 
which  came  from  time  to  time  to  the  surface."^" 

Forty  years  later,  a  Carmelite  friar,  named  Parker, 
preached  in  St.  Paul's,  that  the  only  revenue  of  the  clergy 
should  consist  in  the  voluntary  offerings  of  the  faithful — 
that  Christ  and  his  apostles  sought  no  other.  On  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday,  a  doctor  of  reputation  assailed  these  posi- 
tions in  a  discourse  from  the  same  pulpit.  Subsequently, 
another  Carmelite,  the  master  of  a  convent,  undertook  the 
defence  of  the  impugned  doctrine,  insisting  that  his  brother 
Carmelite,  who  had  preceded  him,  had  simply  delivered  the 
doctrine  of  Scripture.  The  preacher  concluded  by  announc- 
ing, that  the  subject  would  be  further  discussed  in  his 
school  on  the  following  Friday.  The  discussion  of  Friday 
was  resumed  on  the  next  Sunday.  Those  who  had  learnt 
this  doctrine  from  another  source,  looked  on,  as  we  may 
suppose,  with  no  little  interest.  Many  among  the  people 
proclaimed  themselves  believers  in  the  Carmelite  tenets. 
An  eloquent  preacher  was  engaged  by  the  clergy  to  show, 
that  if  our  Lord  accepted  the  willing  offerings  of  the  people, 
He  did  not  solicit  them  in  the  manner  of  the  mendicants. 
But  an  able  Dominican  now  entered  the  lists,  and  having 
delivered  himself  with  much  effect  in  the  cathedral,  he  in- 
vited the  people  to  attend  the  Carmelite  chapel  in  the  after- 
noon, where  a  venerable  doctor  would  deliver  his  judgment 
on  the  question.  Notices  were  posted  on  the  church  doors. 
Crowds  made  their  way  to  the  chapel ;  and  John  Mylverton 
himself,  provincial  of  the  order  of  the  Carmelites,  ascended 

*  Wilkins,  Con.  iii.  433-439.  Russell  was  required  by  convocation  to  re- 
cant, but  the  day  before  that  fixed  for  his  recantation  he  made  his  escape  from 
the  kingdom.  His  doctrine  was  condemned  by  the  University  of  Oxford  ;  and 
an  oath  was  exacted  from  all  students  admitted  to  degrees  requiring  the  renun- 
ciation of  Russell's  opinions.  This  oath  remained  in  force  until  1564. — Duck's 
Life  of  Chicheley.  Wood's  Antiq.  Univcr.  Oxon.  i.  210,  211.  Register, 
Chicheley,  35.  One  remarkable  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  such  tenets  is  fur- 
nished by  the  conduct  of  Pain,  who  was  sent  as  a  delegate  by  the  English  convo- 
cation to  the  Council  of  Basle.  Pain  was  so  bold  as  to  argue  before  the  council 
against  the  possession  of  estates,  or  of  temporal  jurisdiction  by  the  clergy, 
*  Polemar,  a  Spanish  archdeacon,  replied  to  him  at  great  length,  but  did  not  con 
vince  him.  '  'Tis  evident,'  says  Collier,  '  that  Pain  was  a  m^n  of  learning,  and 
one  of  the  chief  of  the  Wycliffitc  party.'— i.  661-663. 


THE   DAWN.  639 

the  pulpit.  He  said  that  he  had  heard  that  one  of  his  ^^^^  J 
brethren  had  been  much  defamed,  charged  with  error  and  ~ 
blasphemy.  But  he  stood  there  prepared  to  show  that  the 
doctrine  so  described  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Scripture  and 
of  the  fathers.  His  manner  was  grave,  and  most  earnest. 
The  auditory,  especially  the  common  people,  were  greatly 
moved  by  it.  The  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  made 
report  of  these  proceedings  to  the  pope,  soliciting  his  advice 
and  help,  says,  '  We  know  that  some  thought,  and  others 
were  heard  to  say,  if  Christ  was  so  poor,  why  should  his 
followers,  the  pope,  the  cardinals,  the  archbishops,  bishops, 
and  abbots,  own  such  large  possessions.  It  is  clear  that 
priests  should  live  on  offerings  freely  made  to  them,  that 
the  church  became  apostate  from  the  day  on  which  she  was 
endowed,  and  that  good  service  would  be  done  to  religion 
and  to  the  nation  if  churchmen  were  stripped  of  their 
wealth,  and  left  in  this  matter  to  follow  their  Lord  and  his 
apostles.'  So  strong,  and  so  general,  was  this  feeling,  that 
it  was  with  difficulty,  we  are  told,  that  the  people  were 
restrained  from  breaking  out  into  open  insurrection.  As 
will  be  expected,  the  primate  did  not  solicit  the  aid  of  the 
pontiff  in  vain.  Mylverton  was  summoned  to  Rome,  and 
passed  two  years  in  one  of  the  dungeons  of  St.  Angelo. 
But  so  did  opinion  in  the  direction  of  ecclesiastical  change 
continue  to  do  its  work  in  England  during  the  fifteenth 
century." 

In  this  teaching  of  the  mendicant  orders  there  was  noth- 
ing strictly  new.  Their  institutes  rested  on  this  doctrine 
concerning  religious  endowments,  as  implied  if  not  ex- 
pressed. But  the  times  had  changed.  A  tenet  which  had 
been  accounted  harmless  in  the  thirteenth  century,  becomes 
something  very  different  in  the  fifteenth.  The  mendicants 
might  follow  their  own  rule  in  this  particular ;  but  that 
they  should  impugn  the  contrary  rule  of  the  endowed 
clergy  was  felt  to  be  a  grave  matter.  It  was  all  very  well 
to  flank,  or  supplement,  the  parochial  clergy  with  these 
voluntary  orders.  But  that  the  clergy  themselves  should 
become  voluntaries,  was  not  to  be  conceded  for  a  moment. 

*  MS.  Cotton  Library,  Titus  D.  10,  p.  185  et  seq.    Cited  in  Turner,  iii.  132. 


54:0  LANCASTER   AND   YORK. 

BOOK  V.  ]N"or  were  the  mendicants  the  only  ecclesiastics  whose 
Refi^l^  labours  served  to  impair  the  foundations  of  the  existing  sys- 
doctrine      tcm.     The  third  volume  of  Wikins'  Councils  furnishes  many 

avowed  by     .  /?         i  i      i  ^ 

seSiiar^*^^  mstanccs  01  endowed  clergymen  embracing  the  doctrine  of 
clergy.  the  mcudicauts  concerning  the  revenues  of  their  order,  and 
holding  and  inculcating  opinions  widely  at  variance  with 
the  faith  and  usage  of  their  church.  They  said  much  to 
discourage  the  adoration  of  the  cross,  the  worship  of  images, 
and  prayers  to  saints.  These  usages  were  all  described  as 
savouring  of  idolatry.  They  denied  that  the  bread  in  the 
eucharist  ever  ceased  to  be  bread.  While  opposed  to  re- 
ligious endowments,  they  condemned  the  begging  customs 
of  the  friars.  In  the  spirit  of  Wycliife,  they  condemned  the 
religious  orders  altogether,  as  being  institutes  of  man,  which 
reflected  on  the  institutes  of  Christ  as  wanting  in  adaptation 
to  the  needs  of  the  church.  They  spoke  of  the  Bible  as  the 
only  pure  and  infallible  authority  in  regard  to  religion,  and 
urged  the  people  to  trust  in  the  promise  of  God  as  there 
given  them,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  dependence.  Pil- 
grimages were  worse  than  useless,  the  only  true  pilgrimage 
being  to  do  the  commandments  of  God.  The  most  conspicu- 
ous among  the  clergy  who  sufl'ered  during  this  interval,  as 
holding  opinions  more  or  less  of  this  complexion,  was  the  de- 
vout and  conscientious  Reginald  Peacock,  successively  bishop 
of  St.  Asaph  and  Chichester.  Among  his  patrons  were  men 
of  the  lirst  rank ;  but  after  much  effort,  his  enemies  pre- 
vailed against  him,  and  the  influence  of  his  friends  could  do 
no  more  than  abate  the  severity  of  the  sentence  which  sent 
him  from  his  episcopal  residence  to  a  prison.  His  history 
and  sufterings  belong  to  the  latter,  half  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. Like  many  more  in  those  evil  times,  he  made  a  sort 
of  recantation,  and  died  unhappily  as  the  consequence.* 
But  if  curates,  and  incumbents,  and  even  bishoj)s,  are 

*  Bale,  Cent  VIII.  Godwin  in  Episc.  Cicestrcns.  Collier,  i.  674-6'76. 
See  Lewis's  Life  and  Sufferings  of  Reginald  Peacock.  Two  priests  of  the 
diocese  of  Lincoln,  named  Robert  Hake  and  Thomas  Drayton,  were  summoned 
before  a  synod  in  1425,  and  charged  with  refusing  to  kneel  to  a  crucifix,  with 
having  books  in  their  possession  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation, 
and  with  affirming  that  monasti-c  orders  and  auricular  confession  were  inven- 
tions of  the  devil,  &c.  &c.  Similar  proceedings  took  place  in  the  convocation  of 
1429. 


THE    DAWN.  54:1 

fou  d  to  be  thus  infected  with  the  new  opinions,  we  may  book  v. 
readily  imagine  that  the  portion  of  the  laity  open  to  such  rj^^^-^-;;^ 
impressions  would  be  much  greater.  In  grave  affairs,  the  l^^^H  ^^ 
upper  ranks  move  much  more  cautiously  than  the  lower.  ^^Jj»«°^^ 
They  see  further  into  consequences,  and  have  more  at  stake. 
We  do  not  expect,  accordingly,  even  in  the  most  favourable 
times,  to  see  much  movement  in  that  quarter,  until  the  ten- 
dencies lower  down  have  become  ripe  for  change  ;  and  from 
what  we  have  seen  of  the  character  of  English  aristocracy 
in  the  age  under  review,  anything  like  an  enlightened  re- 
ligious earnestness  was  the  last  thing  to  be  expected  from 
them.  But  it  is  manifest  from  the  language  of  the  ruling 
churchmen  in  this  century,  that  they  regarded  the  towns- 
people, and  the  commonalty  at  large,  as  adherents  to  the 
new  learning,  and  as  disposed  to  favour  it  in  secret,  if  not 
prepared  to  avow  their  attachment  to  it  openly.  Such  was 
no  doubt  to  a  great  extent  the  fact.  So  many  works  were 
written  setting  forth  the  views  of  the  reformers  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people,  that  it  became  one  of  the  pressing  ques- 
tions put  to  suspected  and  accused  persons — ^liave  you  in 
your  possession  any  books  written  in  English ;  have  you 
read  such  books,  have  you  any  knowledge  of  such  books, 
or  of  persons  having  any  such  knowledge  ? 

One  popular  work  of  this  description  bore  the  name  of 
the  Lantern  of  Light.  It  was  written  some  time  before  the 
middle  of  this  century.  It  described  the  pope  as  Anti- 
christ ;  as  the  head  of  the  beast,  with  the  prelates  as  the 
body,  and  the  religious  orders  as  the  tail.  Papal  decrees 
it  declared  to  be  of  no  sort  of  authority.  Indulgences  were 
a  delusion.  Pilgrimages  were  a  demoralizing  superstition. 
Spiritual  obedience  to  clergymen  who  failed  in  their  spiritual 
duties  was  a  sin.  The  attempts  made  by  the  bishops  to 
restrict  the  office  of  preaching  to  their  own  licensed  priests 
marked  them  as  the  tools  of  Antichrist.  It  was  the  duty  of 
the  clergy  to  live  in  modest  houses,  and  after  a  modest 
fashion ;  and  to  leave  the  decorating  of  their  holy  things 
with  silver  and  gold,  and  their  many  chantings,  for  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
The  reason,  says  the  book,  why  men  who  entertain  such 


542  LANCASTER  AND   YORK. 

^cLa?  J'  ^^^^^^  ^^6  ^^  bitterly  persecuted,  is  simply  that  the  secular 

clergy  may  retain  their  possessions,  and  that  the  mendicants 

may  have  the  mind  of  the  people  at  their  disposal,  and  turn 
it  to  their  uses. 

This  book  was  found  in  the  possession  of  a  fell-monger 
named  Claydon,  living  in  St.  Martin's-lane,  near  Aid ersgate. 
This  man  had  already  suffered  six  years'  confinement  in  the 
hell-pits  which  prisons  then  were,  for  his  opinions,  two 
years  in  Conway  Castle,  and  four  in  the  Fleet.  His  ser- 
vants were  summoned  to  give  evidence  against  him.  One 
of  these  deposed  that  the  Lantern  of  Light  was  often  read 
on  festival  days  before  the  family ;  the  other  said  that  he 
was  present  when  the  author,  named  John  Greene,  brought 
the  book  to  his  master,  and  he  heard  them  converse  about  it. 
Claydon,  in  full  memory  of  the  dungeons  of  Conway  Castle 
and  the  Fleet,  when  questioned  concerning  the  treatise, 
answered  that  it  contained  things  which  he  believed  to  be 
good  for  his  soul.  He  perished  at  the  stake  in  Smithfield.* 
Claydon  was  one  of  a  class.  Had  there  been  men  in 
power,  in  those  days,  disposed  and  able  to  shield  such  per- 
sons, we  have  evidence  enough  to  show  that  their  numbers 
would  have  been  found  to  be  much  greater  than  is  now 
known  to  history.  Conscientiousness  may  be  mistaken,  but 
without  it  there  can  be  no  greatness  in  a  people.  The 
country  which  has  had  its  age  of  Wycliffe  and  Chaucer, 
must  have  something  better  still  in  the  distance.  Amidst 
all  the  disorders  of  this  century,  the  commerce  and  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  continued  to  increase  ;  and  in  our  his- 
tory, these  elements  of  progress  have  been  inseparable  from 
the  progress  of  popular  intelligence  and  freedom. f 
Some  on-  Amoug  tlic  fcw  sigus  of  iutfellcctual  life  in  England  in 

mSlwen  ^hc  fifteenth  century,  we  may  reckon  the  additions  made  to 
to  learning.  ^^^  foundations  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  In  Oxford, 
Lincoln  College  was  founded  by  the  joint  liberality  of 
Richard  Fleming  and  Thomas  Eotherham,  who  were  suc- 
cessively bishops  of  Lincoln.  All  Souls'  owed  its  origin  to 
the  liberality   of    archbishop   Chicheley ;    and   Magdalen 

*  Wilkins,  Con.  iii.  3'72-3'74,  396,  398,  399, 
f  Anderson's.  Hist.  Corn.  i.  bk.  iii. 


THE   DAWN.  543 

College  to  that  of  Wayneflete,  bishop  of  Winchester,  and  igJoK  v. 

lord  chancellor.     During  the  same  period  King's  College,     

Cambridge,  and  Eton  College,  near  Windsor,  were  founded 
by  the  munificence  of  Henry  YI.,  together  with  Queen's 
College,  in  the  same  university,  by  Margaret  of  Anjou,  the 
queen  of  that  monarch.  Cambridge  was  further  befriended 
by  Eobert  Woodlark,  provost  of  Eton,  the  founder  of 
Catherine  Hall.* 

All  these  offerings  in  aid  of  .the  culture  of  the  nation 
came,  it  will  be  seen,  from  the  clergy,  with  the  exception 
of  those  from  Henry  YI.  and  his  consort. 

Humphrey  duke  of  Gloucester  was  about  the  same  time  The  duke 
a  great  patron  of  letters.  He  founded  a  divinity  school  and  cester. 
public  library  in  Oxford.  He  presented  a  library  of  600 
volumes  to  the  university,  120  of  which  are  said  to  have 
been  valued  at  1,000Z.  in  the  money  of  that  time.  Thege 
volumes  consisted  of  the  most  splendid  and  costly  copies 
that  could  be  procured,  finely  written  on  vellum,  and  richly 
embellished  with  miniatures  and  illuminations.  Among 
them  was  a  translation  into  French  of  Ovid's  Metamorpho- 
ses. In  fact,  the  duke  did  not  confine  his  patronage  to 
English  scholars.  Frenchmen  and  Italians  shared  in  his 
bounty.  Several  eminent  scholars  were  employed  by  him 
in  transcribing  valuable  works,  and  in  translating  works 
from  Greek  into  Latin  and  English.  The  library  was  opened 
in  14:80.t 

Lord  Tiptoft,  created  earl  of  Worcester  by  Henry  YI.  The  oari  of 
has  been  mentioned  as  a  scholar,  and  a  lover  of  books.  He 
contributed  largely  to  the  public  library  of  the  University 
of  Oxford.  He  visited  Jerusalem,  and  was  resident  for 
some  years  in  Yenice  and  Padua.  In  the  latter  places  he 
purchased  many  manuscript  works.  Subsequently,  he  made 
some  stay  in  Bome,  that  he  might  explore  in  the  Yatican 
library.  He  there  delivered  a  Latin  oration,  on  some  pub- 
lic occasion,  before  ^neas  Sylvius,  then  Pius  IL,  and  his 
holiness  is  said  to  have  shed  tears  of  delight  as  he  listened. 

*  Wood,  Hist.  Univer.  Ox.  159  et  seq.    Fuller,  Hist.  Camb.  1Z  et  seq. 
f  Warton   On  Introd.  of  Learning  into  England^  p.  cxiii.     Wood,  Hist. 
Univer.  Oxon. 


544:  LAJTCASTEE  AND  TOEK. 

^cda?.  r  ^^^  lordship  was,  further,  a  great  patron  of  Caxton  the 

printer.     But  the  earl  of  Worcester  was  one  of  the  many 

nobles  who  perished  in  the  civil  Avar.  He  was  beheaded  in 
1470,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  by  command  of 
tlie  earl  of  Warwick,  who  had  then  taken  the  side  of  Henry 
YI.,  and  had  restored  him  to  the  throne.  As  the  earl  of 
"Worcester  was  the  only  man  so  punished  in  connexion  with 
that  revolution,  even  in  those  sanguinary  times,  the  pre- 
sumption is  strong,  that  he  had  become  in  some  special 
sense  an  oifender.  We  have  reason  to  fear  that  the  human- 
izing tendency  of  a  love  of  letters  had  been  neutralized  in 
his  case  by  other  passions.  He  joined  the  Yorkists  under 
Edward  lY. ;  but  he  had  been  a  zealous  Lancastrian,  and  is 
said  to  have  disgraced  one  of  the  triumphs  of  his  party  by 
excessive  cruelty.  Twenty  gentlemen  and  noblemen  are 
said  to  have  been  impaled  by  his  order.  The  popular 
hatred  gave  him  the  name  of  the  '  butcher.'  ^  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  there  is  any  necessary  connexion  be- 
tween a  taste  for  intellectual  pleasures  and  virtuous  affec- 
tions. The  best  educated,  and  the  most  cultivated,  of  our 
kings  during  the  fifteenth  century,  was  Eichard  HI.  As  a 
rule  our  nature  is  softened  and  elevated  by  the  study  of  the 
.  humanities,  but  history  shows  a  frightful  margin  of  excep- 
tions to  this  rule — in  fact  we  meet  with  such  ourselves  every 
day.f 
Earl  Elvers.  Earl  Hivcrs,  formerly  Anthony  Woodville  and  Lord 
Scales,  was  brother  to  the  Queen  of  Edward  lY.  England 
did  not  contain  a  braver  or  a  more  accomplished  knight. 

*  Warkworth,  Chronicle^  Contin.  Groyl.  Stowe.  Caxton  speaks  well  of 
his  patron,  but  his  evidence  is  outweighed  by  other  authorities.  Walpole's 
declamation  on  this  subject  is  of  no  value. — Royal  and  Nohle  Authors^  ii. 
59-67.     Dugdale's  Baronage^  ii.  41.     Leland's  Be  Script.  Brit.  475  et  seq. 

f  In  1414,  Worcester,  as  Sir  John  Tiptoft,  made  an  impassioned  speech  in 
parliament  against  the  Lollards.  The  effect  was,  that  the  lords  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  king,  stating  that  certain  persons,  by  the  instigation  of  the 
Enemy,  were  endeavouinng  '  in  public  sermons,  as  well  as  in  conventicles,  and 
in  secret  places  called  schools,'  to  move  the  kingdom  to  lay  hands  on  the  wealth 
of  the  clergy.  The  memorialists  remind  his  majesty,  that,  of  course,  the  next 
step  would  be  to  lay  hands  on  the  possessions  of  temporal  lords,  whose  rights  in 
relation  to  property  were  by  no  means  more  sacred  than  those  of  the  clergy ; 
and  they  accordingly  pray  the  king,  that  a  stringent  law  may  be  passed  to  put  an 
end  to  the  promulgation  of  such  opinions. — Fuller's  Church  Hist.  bk.  iv.  162. 
The  Lancastrians,  as  we  have  seen,  won  the  clergy  by  this  policy,  but  they  exas- 
perated the  people. 


THE  DAWN.  645 

As  Lord  Scales,  he  went  tlirougli  a  great  passage  of  ai-ms  ^^^k  v. 

with  the  famous  Anthony  the  Bastard  of  ]N"ormandy,  in  the     

presence  of  the  court  and  the  populace  in  Smithfield,  and 
was  the  victor.  The  Earl  of  Worcester  presided  on  that  * 
occasion  as  lord  high  constable.  Earl  Rivers  was  also  a 
patron  of  Caxton,  and  the  translator  of  several  works  from 
the  French,  which  are  among  the  earliest  issued  from  Cax- 
ton's  press.  This  nobleman,  too,  perished  on  the  block, 
when  little  more  than  forty  years  of  age,  by  command  of 
the  then  Duke  of  Gloucester,  afterwards  Richard  III.* 

With  these  friends  of  authors,  and  munificent  patrons  i^ord  i^it- 

,  ,  ■*•  tleton. 

of  literature,  mention  should  be  made  of  two  really  learned 
men  of  this  century — Littleton  and  Fortescue.  Sir  Thomas 
Littleton  was  the  son  of  a  private  gentleman  in  Devonshire. 
Having  practised  some  time  at  the  bar,  he  became  reader 
in  the  Inner  Temple.  The  inns  of  courts  are  said  to  have 
been  crowded  with  students  in  this  century,  though  few,  it 
would  seem,  rose  to  eminence.  In  1455,  Henry  YI.  raised 
Littleton  to  the  office  of  judge  of  the  Marshalsea  court.  In 
the  following  year  he  became  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas. 
He  saw  the  crown  pass  from  Henry  YI.  to  more  than 
one  successor ;  but,  amidst  the  storm  and  change  of  the 
times,  Littleton  was  allowed  to  retain  his  position  undis- 
turbed. It  was  not  necessary,  in  administering  the  law  as 
between  subject  and  subject,  that  he  should  become  con- 
spicuous as  a  politician.  His  great  work  on  tenures  is  well 
known  to  all  law  students  as  the  basis  of  the  later  work 
entitled,  Coke  upon  Littleton. ^ 

Sir  John  Fortescue  was  the  son  of  Sir  Henry  Fortescue,  sir  John 
lord  chief  justice  of  Ireland.  Sir  John  became  reader  at 
Lincoln's  Inn.  Students  crowded  to  hear  his  lectures,  and 
gave  him  loud  proof  of  their  admiration.  In  1430  he  was 
made  sergeant-at-law  ;  in  1442  chief  justice.  Having  tilled 
this  high  office  with  great  reputation  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  he  shared  the  exile  of  the  family  of  Henry  YI.  and 
was  attainted  of  treason.  During  his  residence  in  France 
queen  Margaret  often  consulted  him  on  her  affairs,  but  his 

*  jBiographia  Brit.  ii.     Walpole,  Royal  and  Nohle  Authors^  i.  67  et  seq. 
I  Biographia  Brit.  v.     De  Laudibus  Legum  Anglice,  c.  49. 

Vol.  I.— 35 


BOOK  V. 
Chap.  2. 


546  LANCASTER  AND   YORK. 

chief  employment  was  in  superintending  the  education  of 
her  son  prince  Edward.  It  was  for  the  instruction  of  that 
prince  that  Fortescue  wrote  his  De  Laudihics  Legiim  Anglice, 
Tliis  treatise  describes  the  constitution  of  England  as  con- 
sisting in  a  monarchy  limited  by  law,  and  as  being  thus 
distinguished  from  all  absolute  monarchies.  Sir  John  was 
present  at  the  fatal  battle  of  Tewkesbury  in  1471.  The 
victory  of  that  day  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  the  Lancas- 
trians. The  life  of  the  chief  justice  was  spared.  Subse- 
quently he  was  restored  to  liberty,  and  probably  to  the 
possession  of  his  forfeited  property.  In  the  hope  of  doing 
something  towards  putting  an  end  to  a  contest  which  had 
now  become  apparently  useless,  Fortescue  wrote  a  tract  in 
defence  of  the  title  of  Edward  lY.  Another  of  his  publica- 
tions, of  high  value,  was  a  treatise  on  the  Difference  hetween 
an  Absolute  and  a  Limited  Monarchy.  His  former  treatise, 
expository  of  the  same  principles,  was  written  in  Latin,  and 
designed  for  the  use  of  prince  Edward  the  Lancastrian  ;  this 
work  was  written  in  English,  and  was  designed  for  the  use 
of  Edward  lY.  There  might  be  disputes  concerning  who 
should  be  king  ;  but,  in  the  judgment  of  Sir  John  Fortescue, 
there  could  be  no  dispute  about  the  fact  that  the  king  of 
England  is  a  king,  who,  in  the  language  of  Bracton,  and  in 
the  language  of  our  statutes,  is  to  govern,  not  according  to 
his  pleasure,  but  according  to  law.  The  publication  of  the 
treatises  of  this  able  and  virtuous  judge  has  done  much  to- 
wards settling  the  question  concerning  the  alleged  innova- 
tions upon  the  English  Constitution  on  the  part  of  the 
Tudors  and  Stuarts.  Sir  John  Fortescue  lived  to  be  ninety 
years  of  age.  We  should  add,  that  Sir  John's  last-men- 
tioned treatise  furnishes  an  admirable  specimen  of  the 
power  of  our  language  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury.* 

*  See  the  memoir  in  the  Biograplda  Britannica,  vol.  iii. 

'  A  king  of  England,'  writes  Fortescue,  '  cannot  at  his  pleasure  make  any 
alterations  in  the  laws  of  the  land,  for  the  nature  of  his  government  is  not  only 
regal,  but  political.  Had  it  been  merely  regal,  he  would  have  a  power  to  make 
what  innovations  and  alterations  he  pleased  in  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  to 
impose  tallages  and  other  hardships  upon  the  people,  whether  they  would  or  no, 
without  their  consent ;  which  sort  of  government  the  civil  laws  point  out,  when 
they  declare  quod  principi  placuit,  legis  hahet  vigorem.     But  it  is  much  other- 


THE   DAWN.  54:7 

Our  historical  literature  during  the  fifteenth  centur}^  is  J^pf>K  v. 

singularly  poor.     Walsingham,  Otterburne,  Whethamstede,     

Elmham,  Titus  Livius,  William  of  AVorcester,  Kouse,  and 
Fabian  belong  to  this  period :  but  their  narratives  are  of 
no  value  except  as  they  relate  to  contemporary  matters,  and 
even  there  the  assistance  to  be  derived  from  them  is  often 
unsatisfactory.  Walsingham  and  Fabian  are  the  most  use- 
ful.    Fabian  wrote  in  English,  the  rest  in  indifferent  Latin. 

Nor  was  the  science  of  this  century  in  a  better  condi-  state  of 

'J  ^  science. 

tion  than  its  literature.  When  Henry  Y.  invaded  France, 
Thomas  Morstede  was  the  only  fully  qualified  surgeon  in 
his  train.  Morstede  engaged  fifteen  assistants,  i  But  while 
his  own  pay  was  not  more  than  that  of  a  man-at-arms,  his 
assistants  were  classed  in  that  respect  with  ordinary  archers, 
and  some  of  them  were  required  to  use  the  bow.  On  the 
second  invasion,  it  was  found  necessary  to  press  the  assist- 

wise  with  a  king  whose  government  is  poUtical,  because  he  can  neither  make  any 
alteration  or  change  in  the  laws  of  the  realm,  without  the  consent  of  his  sub- 
jects, nor  burthen  them  against  their  wills  with  strange  impositions,  so  that  a 
people  governed  by  such  laws  as  are  made  by  their  own  consent  and  approbation 
enjoy  their  properties  securely,  and  without  the  hazard  of  being  deprived  of 
them,  either  by  the  king  or  any  other.  The  same  thing  may  be  effected  under 
an  absolute  prince,  provided  he  do  not  degenerate  into  the  tyrant.  Of  such  a 
prince,  Aristotle,  in  the  third  of  his  Politics^  says,  '  It  is  better  for  a  city  to  be 
governed  by  a  good  man,  than  by  good  laws.'  But  because  it  does  not  always 
happen  that  the  person  presiding  over  a  people  is  so  qualified,  St.  Thomas,  in 
the  book  which  he  writ  to  the  king  of  Cyprus,  De  Reginiine  Fri7icipum,  wishes 
that  a  kingdom  could  be  so  instituted  as  that  the  king  might  not  be  at  liberty  to 
tyrannize  over  his  people  ;  which  only  comes  to  pass  in  the  present  case  ;  that 
is,  when  the  sovereign  power  is  restrained  by  pohtical  laws.  Rejoice,  therefore, 
my  good  prince,  that  such  is  the  law  of  the  kingdom  to  which  you  are  to  inherit, 
because  it  will  afford  both  to  yourself  and  subjects  the  greatest  security  and  satis- 
faction.'— De  Lavdihus  Legum  Anglice,  c.  9.  Many  other  passages  of  this 
complexion  might  be  adduced.  In  one  instance  Sir  John  describes  the  English 
constitution  as  originating  in  compact,  and  proceeds  to  set  forth  its  principles 
according  to  that  view. — Ibid.  c.  12.     Hallam,  iii.  228,  229. 

I  give  an  extract  from  the  English  treatise,  as  showing  what  the  English  lan- 
guage was  in  the  hands  of  the  author,  as  well  as  on  account  of  what  it  contains. 
'  In  Flanders  and  other  Lordscippis  of  the  Duke  of  Burgoyne  downward,  he 
[the  King  of  France]  taketh  certeyn  Imposicions  made  by  hymself  upon  every 
Oxe,  every  Schepe,  and  upon  other  thyngs  sould,  and  also  upon  every  Vessel  of 
Wyne,  every  Barell  of  Beer,  and  other  Vytayls  sould  in  his  Lordschip,  which  is 
no  litill  Revenue  to  hym  yerely :  hut  yet  he  doth  it  magre  the  People^  which 
God  defend  that  the  Kyng  our  Soveryng  Lord  schidd  do  upn  his  People,  without 
their  Graunts  and  A  ssents.  Nevertheless  with  their  Assents,  such  manner  of 
Subsydye,  if  ther  could  not  be  found  a  better  Meane  of  the  encreasing  of  the 
Kyngs  Revenuz,  were  not  unreasonable.  For  theryn,  and  yn  the  Gable  of  Salt, 
every  Man  schal  here  the  charge  therin  equally.  But  yet  I  would  not,  that  such 
a  new  Custome  and  Charge  were  put  upon  the  People,  in  our  Soveryng  Lords 
dayes,  with  which  his  Progenitors  chargyd  them  never,  if  a  better  and  more  con- 
venient way  could  be  found.' 


548  LANCASTER  AOT)  TOEK. 

^c^A?  r  ^^*®  ^^*^  *^^  service.     It  must  be  evident,  that  in  those 

armies,  the  deaths  which  resulted  from  the  weapons  of  the 

enemy,  would  be  few  compared  with  those  which  must  have 
taken  place  from  the  want  of  due  surgical  aid.  The  death 
of  the  king  himself  would  seem  to  have  been  among  the 
effects  of  this  scientific  ignorance. 

Under  Henry  lY.  a  law  was  passed  which  forbade  the 
attempts  made  to  transmute  inferior  substances  into  gold, 
under  heavy  penalties.  By  some,  this  law  was  framed  to 
prevent  a  waste  of  the  precious  metals,  and  of  precious 
stones,  in  experiments  which  it  was  believed  must  be  fruit- 
less. By  others,  the  penalty  was  directed  against  the  al- 
leged magic  of  such  practices.  And  this  difference  of  judg- 
ment continued  to  prevail  concerning  such  attempts.  In 
the  imagination  of  the  people,  the  sole  use  of  mathematics 
was  to  help  the  astrologer ;  and  they  knew  not  how  to 
separate  the  experiments  of  the  chemist  from  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  alchemist.  Such  scholars  were  wizards,  and 
their  wives  and  daughters  were  supposed  to  be  wise  in  their 
secrets.  Many  who  were  above  the  commonalty  shared  in 
this  credulity,  and  were  willing  to  believe  that  such  studies 
led  to  great  mysteries  which  might  be  made  to  subserve  the 
intrigues  to  which  their  ambition  prompted  them.  That 
such  persons  should  be  found  in  the  court  of  Henry  YI.  and 
of  his  successors,  will  excite  no  wonder,  if  we  call  to  mind 
the  faith  in  such  delusions  which  prevailed  in  the  court  of 
France  more  than  a  century  later,  and  the  facts  of  this  na- 
ture which  are  mixed  up  with  the  court  history  of  our  own 
James  I.  and  with  certain  trials  for  witchcraft  even  later 
still.  Minds  which  were  superior  to  all  faith  of  this  descrip- 
tion, as  the  result  of  general  culture,  were  exceptions  to  the 
mass.  Religion  gave  this  superiority  to  some,  religious 
scepticism  suggested  the  same  conclusion  to  others.  Henry 
YI.  had  learned  to  believe  it  possible,  that  the  elixir  of  life 
and  the  philosopher's  stone  might  be  discovered ;  but  he 
maintained  that  the  discovery  would  come,  not  from  the 
intervention  of  malignant  powers,  but  from  a  benignant 
Providence,  as  a  reward  on  human  ingenuity  and  labour. 
In  this  belief  the  pious  king  issued  a  proclamation  giving 


THE  DAWN.  549 

warrant  to  John  Fauceby,  John  Kirkeby,  and  John  Kayny,  ^q^j^^  2' 
'  to  investigate,  begin,  prosecute,  and  perfect  the  aforesaid 
medicine,  according  to  their  own  discretion,  and  the  pre- 
cepts of  ancient  sages,  and  also  to  transmute  other  metals 
into  true  gold  and  silver.'*  Parliament  rescinded  the 
statute  of  Henry  lY.  and  gave  the  authority  of  law  to  this 
proclamation. 

The  art  of  printing,  as  may  be  supposed,  did  not  escape  Theintro- 
the  suspicions  which  fell,  in  those  times  of  ignorance,  on  printing— 
the  science  of  mathematics  and  chemistry.  But  it  was  in 
Germany  and  the  Low  Countries,  more  than  in  England, 
that  the  bUck  art  was  associated  with  the  first  use  of  the 
printer's  type.  The  earliest  experiments  in  printing  on  the 
Continent  may  be  traced  to  about  the  year  1430  ;  the  ear- 
liest specimen  in  this  country  did  not  appear  until  1474,  or 
possibly  1477.  That  John  Caxton  of  the  Mercers'  Com- 
pany in  London  was  our  first  printer,  is  beyond  reasonable 
doubt.  Caxton  was  not  only  a  man  of  business  but  a  man 
of  travel,  one  of  those  ingenious  and  honest  traders  who 
earn  their  right  to  stand  before  kings.  He  was  deputed  by 
Edward  IV".  to  negotiate  a  commercial  treaty  with  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  was  otherwise  well  known  to  per- 
sons of  influence.  The  above-mentioned  negotiation  belongs 
to  the  year  1464.  Caxton  began  to  print  some  ten  years 
later,  and  laboured  with  great  assiduity  in  his  new  employ- 
ment through  the  remaining  twelve  years  of  his  life.  The 
sort  of  books  printed  by  Caxton  merit  consideration,  as  they 
indicate  the  taste  and  feeling  of  the  time.  The  nature  of 
the  supply  was  no  doubt  determined  by  what  w^as  known 
to  be  the  nature  of  the  demand.  Judging  from  these  works, 
the  spirit  of  the  age  embraced  that  mixture  of  the  religious 
and  the  romantic  which  had  been  characteristic  of  the  in- 
tellectual life  of  England  for  some  centuries  past.  The 
same  Caxton  types  were  used  to  work  off  the  Golden  Le- 
gend^ and  King  Arthur  ;  a  volume  oi  Directions  for  Keep- 
ing Feasts  all  the  Year,  and  a  £ook  of  the  Order  of  Chiv- 
alry j  the  Life  of  St.  Catherine  of  Sens,  or  of  St.  Wyne- 
frid,  and  the  History  of  the  Noble,  Right   Valiant,  and 

*  Rymer,  ii.  379. 


550 


LANCASTER   AND   YORK. 


BOOK  V. 
Chap.  2. 


Probabili- 
ties of  tho 
future. 


Historical 
function  of 
the  papal 
power. 


Right  Worthy  Knight  of  Paris  and  his  Fair  Vienne — 
coupled  with  tlie  renowned  tale  of  Benard  the  Fox^  or  the 
Subtle  Histories  of  the  Fables  of  Fsop.  Snch  were  the 
works  sent  forth,  in  about  equal  proportions,  by  the  infant 
press  of  England.  But  no  writer  profited  more  in  reputa- 
tion by  the  new  invention  than  our  own  Chaucer.  One 
Thomas  Hunt,  and  several  foreigners,  became  known  as 
printers  in  England  before  the  death  of  Caxton.* 

Our  literature,  we  have  seen,  was  in  a  sorry  state  when 
the  printing-press  made  its  aj^pearance  among  us  ;  and  the 
science  of  the  age  was  in  the  same  low  condition.  But  the 
English  constitution — and  the  English  constitution  as  ex- 
pounded by  Fortescue — ^had  been  saved  ;  and  the  battle  on 
the  side  of  freedom  of  opinion  had  not  come  to  a  close.  The 
aspects  of  this  struggle  had  been  painfully  fluctuating  ;  but 
no  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  see  that  the  papal  policy  had 
long  been  losing  ground  in  England,  and  that  the  history 
of  England  in  this  particular  had  become  the  history  of 
Christendom.  And  now,  with  the  magic  agency  of  the 
press  at  its  disposal,  this  new  spirit  might  well  be  expected 
to  achieve  new  victories.  To  judge  wisely  concerning  the 
change  which  had  come  over  the  relations  and  position  of 
the  papacy,  and  concerning  the  prospect,  in  consequence,  of 
the  mind  of  society  in  the  fifteenth  century,  it  is  important 
to  look  to  the  present  in  its  relation  to  the  past. 

Amidst  the  chaos  which  ensued  on  the  fall  of  the  Roman 
empire,  the  unity  which  characterized  the  papal  system 
gave  a  wholesome  tendency  to  its  influence.  Providence 
seems  to  have  permitted  it  to  grow  strong,  that  it  might  do 
the  work  which  then  needed  to  be  done.  It  w^as  by  this 
influence  that  the  Latin  element  left  within  the  limits  of  the 
empire  was  preserved,  and  that  the  new  elements  were 
made  to  combine  with  it.  The  ecclesiastical  power  of  Rome 
came  thus  into  the  place  of  its  old  secular  power,  and  na- 
tions ceded  to  it  a  universality  which  no  other  power  could 
claim.  We  have  seen  the  deference  shown  to  this  authority 
by  our  rude  ancestors  before  the  Conquest ;  and  tlie  same 
spirit  is  observable  in  France,  Germany,  and  elsewhere. 


Rymer,  ii.  591.     '  Caston,'  Biographia  Brit.     Caxton^  a  Biography. 


THE   DAWN.  651 

But  this  interval,  during  which  the  adverse  elements  book  v. 

were  being  brought  more  and  more  into  combination,  was     

not  of  long  duration.  The  northern  invaders,  and  the 
people  they  conquered,  became  one,  and  the  new  kingdoms 
they  formed  were  soon  separated  from  each  other  by  differ- 
ences of  language,  and  by  much  beside,  which  sufficed  to 
give  them  their  place  as  distinct  nationalities.  As  tliese 
new  states  became  consolidated,  new  feelings  of  nationality 
grew  np,  and  the  feeling  thus  called  into  existence  at  the 
extremities  becoming  stronger  and  stronger,  it  was  inevita- 
ble that  the  supremacy  exercised  from  the  centre  should  be- 
come weaker  and  weaker.  The  ecclesiastical  history  of  the 
Middle  Age  consists  in  the  history  of  this  growing  inde- 
pendence on  the  part  of  the  different  nations  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  this  declining  influence  on  the  part  of  the 
pontiffs  and  their  court  on  the  other.  The  war  is  every- 
where a  war  between  nationality  and  centralization.  The 
papal  power  continued  strong,  and  retained  its  universality, 
BO  long  as  that  strength  and  that  universality  were  needed  ; 
it  became  weak,  and  was  resisted,  in  the  proportion  in  which 
nations  became  capable  of  dispensing  with  its  services,  by 
becoming  more  capable  of  self-defence  and  of  self-govern- 
ment. The  resistances  to  the  paj)acy  in  England,  through 
every  reign  after  the  Conquest,  have  their  parallel  in  the 
history  of  all  the  contemporary  states  of  Christendom.  So 
far  back  must  we  go,  if  we  would  detect  the  beginnings  of 
the  struggle  between  Protestantism  and  Eomanism,  or,  in 
other  words,  between  freedom  and  authority. 

The  disputes  so  long  carried  on  in  regard  to  investitures.  Decline  of 
had  now  ended  in  favour  of  the  temporal  power.  Princes  supremacy. 
are  left  to  nominate,  without  disturbance,  to  the  higher 
benefices  of  the  church.  Such  is  the  tendency  of  affairs  on 
all  questions  between  the  nationalities  and  the  pontiffs. 
The  papal  schism  has  done  its  work.  The  councils  of  Pisa, 
and  Constance,  and  Basle  have  laid  bare  the  corruption  of 
the  existing  system.  By  deposing  or  creating  popes  at 
pleasure,  those  reverend  fathers  have  so  lowered  the  papal 
authority  as  to  render  its  future  comparatively  harmless. 
Pilgrimages,  and  other  forms  of  popular  superstition,  con- 


552  LANCASTER   AND   YOEK. 

^oha?  J'  ^^^^^  to  be  almost  as  prevalent  as  ever.     But  the  spirit  of 

the  past  is  no  longer  in  those  customs.     Europe  is  menaced, 

almost  to  its  centre,  by  the  Turks.  Tlie  popes  make  the 
utmost  eiFort  to  evoke  another  crusading  enterprise  against 
this  formidable  enemy.  But  nothing  can  be  more  signal 
than  their  failure.  The  danger  is  imminent,  the  pleas  for 
action  are  most  sacred ;  but  to  call  forth  any  combined  or 
special  movement  is  found  to  be  impossible.  The  time,  in- 
deed, seems  to  have  arrived,  in  which  change  of  some  kind 
must  come,  if  religious  conviction  is  not  to  die  out.* 
Secularized  But  there  is  no  prospect  that  any  change  for  the  better 
fiiVpontiffs.  will  be  found  to  originate  with  the  papacy.  During  the 
half-cej;itury  preceding  the  age  of  Luther,  it  is  manifest  to 

*  Of  the  pass  to  which  affairs  had  come  between  the  national  feeling  of  the 
time  and  the  papacy,  we  have  sufficient  evidence  in  the  history  of  the  famous 
prmmunire  statute.  This  statute  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Richard  II,  It  was 
designed  to  concentrate  the  essence  of  all  previous  statutes  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  papacy,  and  to  secure  their  o))ject  by  provisions  of  greater  severity. 
Its  words  are — '  Whereupon  our  said  lord  the  king,  by  the  assent  aforesaid,  and 
at  the  request  of  his  said  commons,  hath  ordained,  and  established,  that  if  any 
purchase  or  pursue,  or  cause  to  be  purchased  or  pursued,  in  the  court  of  Rome 
or  elsewhere,  any  such  translations,  processes,  and  sentences  of  excommunica- 
tions, bulls,  instruments,  or  any  other  things  whatsoever,  which  touch  the  king, 
against  him,  his  crown,  and  his  regality,  or  his  reahn,  as  is  aforesaid,  and  they 
which  bring  within  the  realm,  or  they  who  receive  or  make  thereof  notification, 
or  any  other  execution  whatsoever,  within  the  same  realm,  or  Avithout,  that  they, 
their  notaries,  procurators,  maintainers,  abettors,  fautors,  and  councillors,  shall 
be  put  out  of  the  king''s  protection,  and  their  lands  and  tenements,  goods  and 
chattels,  forfeited  to  our  lord  the  king :  and  that  they  be  attached  by  their 
bodies,  if  they  may  be  found,  and  brought  before  the  king  and  his  council,  there 
to  answer  to  the  cases  aforesaid,  or  that  process  be  made  against  them  by  prce- 
munire  facias,  in  manner  as  it  is  ordained  in  other  statutes  of  provisors.'  So 
effectual  was  this  statute,  in  the  altered  spirit  of  the  times,  that  the  authority  of 
the  pontiffs  was  felt  to  be  at  an  end  in  England,  except  as  approved  by  the 
crown.  In  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  pope  Martin  complained  in  the  most  bitter 
terms  of  this  statute.  Here  is  his  language  :  '  By  this  execrable  statute  the  king 
of  England  had  so  entirely  usurped  the  spiritual  jurisdiction,  as  if  our  Saviour 
had  constituted  him  his  Vicar.  He  makes  laws  for  the  church,  and  the  order 
for  the  clergy  ;  draws  the  cognizance  of  ecclesiastical  causes  to  temporal  courts ; 
makes  provision  about  clerks,  benefices,  and  the  concerns  of  the  hierarchy,  as 
if  he  held  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  if  the  administration  of  those 
affairs  were  with  the  king,  and  not  with  St.  Peter.  Besides  these  hideous 
encroachments,  he  has  enacted  terrible  penalties  against  the  clci'gy.  Jews  and 
Saracens  are  not  treated  with  so  much  severity.  People  of  all  persuasions,  of 
all  countries,  have  the  liberty  of  coming  to  England — except  those  who  have 
cures  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  supreme  bishop,  by  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Those  only  are  banished,  arrested,  imprisoned,  stripped  of  their  fortunes.  Proc- 
tors, or  notaries,  charged  with  the  mandates  or  censures  of  the  apostolic  see,  if 
they  venture  to  set  foot  on  English  ground,  and  proceed  to  the  fulfilment  of 
their  commission,  are  treated  as  the  king's  enemies — cast  out  of  the  king's  pro- 
tection. Is  this  a  Catholic  kingdom  ?' — Collier,  i.  596,  597.  Raynaldus,  ad  an. 
1426.  Milman  vi.  76.  So  did  affairs  ripen  in  the  fifteenth  century  towards  theii" 
issue  in  the  sixteenth. 


THE  DAWN.  553 

all  men  that  the  spiritual  power  of  the  popes  has  almost  book  v. 

ceased  to  exist.     None  are  more  sensible  of  this  fact  than     

the  popes  themselves.  Sixtus  lY.,  Alexander  YI.,  and 
Julius  II.  are  all  popes  of  this  interval.  Their  power  as  the 
spiritual  fathers  of  Christendom  being  so  small,  it  becomes 
their  policy  to  improve  their  position  as  Italian  princes,  by 
every  possible  expedient.  How  to  manage  affairs  so  as  to 
ensure  status  and  wealth  to  their  respective  families,  in  the 
manner  of  the  successful  ruling  families  of  Italy,  is  the 
question  which  occupies  the  whole  life  of  the  first  and  second 
of  the  pontiifs  above  named.  All  Italy  knows  this  to  be 
the  guiding  thought  of  those  spiritual  chiefs,  and,  what  is 
worse,  has  come  to  look  upon  it  as  a  natural  course  of 
things,  and  deals  with  it  accordingly.  The  aim  of  Sixtus 
lY.  is  to  make  his  nephew  Kiario  the  chief  of  a  great 
house ;  and  he  succeeds  in  raising  him  to  the  lordship  of 
Imola  and  Forli.  But  to  achieve  this  object,  his  holiness 
commits  himself  to  so  much  perfidious  intrigue  and  blood- 
shed, in  Florence,  in  Yenice,  and  in  other  places,  as  to  be- 
come associated  with  execrable  memories  in  the  thoughts 
of  all  men.  His  successor  pursues  the  same  policy  with 
still  greater  eagerness,  with  less  scruple,  and  with  more 
success.  Alexander  YI.  has  sons,  openly  acknowledged. 
How  best  to  surround  himself,  even  in  old  age,  with  every 
imaginable  means  of  indulgence,  and  how  best  to  confer 
position  and  wealth  on  his  children,  are  the  ends  towards 
which  all  his  thoughts  are  directed.  One  of  his  sons  is  the 
infamous  Caesar  Borgia — a  man  who  realizes  our  concep- 
tion of  a  Satanic  incarnation  more  fully  perhaps  than  any 
man  in  history.  His  person  exhibits  an  extraordinary  com- 
bination of  the  powerful  and  the  beautiful — the  strength  of 
Hercules  with  the  grace  of  Apollo.  The  horrible  in  his 
crimes  is  only  equalled  by  the  subtlety  with  which  he  pro- 
ceeds to  the  perpetration  of  them.  He  is  voluptuous,  can 
be  liberal,  even  magnanimous  ;  but  it  is  his  passion  to  clear 
his  way  to  his  object  through  every  sort  of  impediment,  and 
to  bring,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  an  artistic  genius  to  such 
performances,  which  is  known  to  have  been  especially  inter- 
esting to  him,  and  which  distanced  all  vulgar  delinquents 


554  LANCASTER   AND   YOEK. 


^cuS.  r   liopelessly.     It  is  true,  Caesar  Borgia  is  not  a  pope.     But 


lie  is  the  son  of  a  pope  ;  and  the  city,  and  the  very  cham- 
bers, of  the  man  holding  that  most  sacred  office,  are  the 
chosen  scenes  of  his  enormities. 

Julius  II.  differs  from  his  predecessor,  inasmuch  as  his 
object  is  not  to  aggrandize  a  family,  but  to  enlarge  and 
consolidate  the  temporal  power  of  his  see,  and  to  accomplish 
this  end,  he  does  not  depend  mainly  on  intrigue  or  secret 
crime,  but  appeals  openly  to  arms.  His  advanced  age, 
with  strength  impaired  by  debauchery  and  intemperance, 
does  not  prevent  his  so  ruling,  and  so  waging  war,  as  to 
augment  the  dominions  of  the  church  beyond  all  precedent. 
Great  kings  learn  to  respect  his  power.  But  the  very  fact 
that  a  pope  of  such  genius  and  energy  can  see  no  way  to 
greatness  except  by  descending  into  the  worldly  arena,  and 
doing  battle  there  as  a  secular  prince,  suggests  how  feeble, 
and  comparatively  profitless,  the  spiritual  branch  of  the 
Roman  pontificate  must  have  become.  It  is  true,  individ- 
uals of  eminent  piety,  and  members  of  p)rincely  and  papal 
families,  such  as  the  Borromeos  of  Lombardy  and  the 
Colonnas  of  Rome,  were  to  be  found  even  in  Italy.  But 
they  were  rare  exceptions  to  their  order,  and  lights  which 
only  served  to  make  the  surrounding  darkness  more  visible 
and  ominous.  There  were  men  of  this  description  in  the 
councils  of  Constance  and  Basle,  who  raised  their  voice  hon- 
estly and  devoutly  on  the  side  of  reform  ;  but  the  strength 
of  the  resistance  called  forth,  presented  only  a  new  mani- 
festation, both  of  the  breadth  and  the  depth  of  the  feeling 
opposed  to  all  change  in  favour  of  a  purer  state  of  things. 
Corruption  What  tlic  licads  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  are  during 
common^to  this  half  ccutury,  the  system  itself  in  the  main  has  become, 
bera™""^'  The  maxims  and  conduct  of  the  highest  have  descended  to 
the  lowest.  It  was  inseparable  from  so  much  ecclesiastical 
w^ealth,  that  churchmen  should  often  be  sordid  and  worldly. 
But  the  church  in  those  days  had  become,  in  a  degree  hith- 
erto unknown,  a  mart  in  which  money  commands  every- 
thing, and  in  wdiich  the  science  of  intrigue  is  the  next  power 
to  wealth.  The  men  who  secure  the  coveted  preferments 
by  such  means,  contrive  to  assign  the  duties  of  them  to  sub- 


THE  DAWN.  555 

ordinates,  prepared  to  render  service  on  the  lowest  terms.   In  ^^^  J- 

this  manner,  they  have  become  possessed  of  the  largest  possi-     

ble  revenue,  on  the  easiest  possible  conditions.  This  revenue, 
it  should  be  remembered,  comes  not  simply,  or  even  mainly, 
from  the  land.  Every  priestly  service  is  a  commodity  for 
which  a  price  is  to  be  paid.  Marriages,  christenings,  burials, 
absolutions,  indulgences,  and  the  like,  are  all  matters  of  fis- 
cal arrangement.  By  the  customs  and  tariffs  so  established, 
and  which  are  virtually  farmed  by  the  inferior  clergy  from 
their  superiors,  the  rapacity  of  the  order  is  made  to  enter 
the  homes  of  the  poorest,  and  to  be  felt  there  with  a  con- 
stancy which  scarcely  seems  to  know  intermission.  Some 
there  are  who  see  these  evils,  and  bitterly  deplore  them. 
We  find  such  men  among  our  own  national  clergy,  and  they 
may  be  found  more  or  less  everywhere.  But  the  tide  is  too 
strong  to  be  stayed  by  such  resistance.  TVar  has  been 
waged  for  centuries  to  preclude  the  popes  from  assigning 
the  bishoprics  and  the  richer  livings  of  the  national  churches 
to  their  proteges,  and  it  has  been  waged  with  success.  But 
the  princes,  the  great,  families,  and  the  lay  patrons  gene- 
rally, are  fully  as  unfaithful  to  their  trust  as  the  court  of 
Kome  had  been.  They  do  not  bestow  their  patronage  so  fre- 
quently on  foreigners,  but  they  bestow  it  quite' as  frequently 
upon  the  incompetent  and  the  worthless.  Such  gifts  are 
generally  regarded  as  matters  to  be  disposed  of  through 
family  influence,  favouritism,  or  a  consideration."^ 

Side  by  side  with  this  decay  of  everything  ecclesiastical  Eevivai  of 
and  religious,  comes  the  revival  of  classical  literature  and  and  art. 
of  ancient  art.  This  tendency  in  the  intelligence  and  taste 
of  the  states  of  Europe  may  be  traced  far  back  into  the  Mid- 
dle Age.  But  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  advance  of  the 
Turks  towards  Constantinople,  and  the  ultimate  fall  of 
that  capital,  made  both  the  genius,  and  the  vast  literary 
treasures,  of  the  East,  the  possession  of  the  "West.  The 
cities  of  Italy  became  the  special  home  of  the  Greek  fugi- 
tives, and  the  depositories  of  those  remains  of  ancient  learn- 
ing which  they  were  careful  to  carry  with  them.     Nicolas 

*  Kanke's  History  of  the  Popes ^  Introd.     Roscoe's  Pontificite  of  Leo  X. 
Life  of  Lorenzo  de*  Medici. 


556  LANCASTER  AKD  YORK. 

^cuS  I"  ^*  ^^came  pontiff  in  1449.     He  lived  in  the  midst  of  these 

memorable  events.     As  plain  Thomas  of  Sarzana,  he  had 

long  been  a  passionate  collector  of  books  and  manuscripts, 
and  of  such  remains  of  classic  art  as  his  means  could  pro- 
cure, or  which  he  could  induce  the  more  wealthy  to  pur- 
chase. Nicolas  was  persuaded  that  it  became  the  spiritual 
head  of  Christendom  to  secure  to  the  papacy  all  the  advan- 
tage that  might  be  derived  from  a  patronage  of  this  move- 
ment ;  and  if  the  policy  of  such  a  course  had  been  less  ob- 
vious, his  inclination  would  have  prompted  him  strongly 
towards  it.  When  Cosmo  de'  Medici  decided  on  forming 
the  library  of  St.  Marco  in  Florence,  Thomas  of  Sarzana  was 
the  person  to  whom  he  looked  as  most  competent  to  classify 
the  books,  and  to  prepare  the  catalogue.  That  library  be- 
came the  model  of  many  formed  by  other  hands  in  different 
parts  of  Italy,  and  especially  of  the  library  of  the  Yatican, 
which  owed  its  origin  to  his  own  zeal  and  munificence  as 
Nicolas  Y.  The  five  thousand  volumes  included  in  the 
Yatican  collection  in  his  time  were  spoken  of  as  the  wonder 
of  the  age.  Nothing  like  it  had  been  seen  in  the  West  since 
the  fall  of  the  Eoman  empire. 

Scholars  from  all  parts  were  now  attracted  to  Rome, 
and  all  found  there  both  genial  and  highly  lucrative  employ- 
ment. The  Latin  and  Greek  classics,  the  Greek  Fathers, 
and  the  sacred  Scriptures  both  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  were 
transcribed,  collated,  and  annotated,  on  a  scale  which  reads 
more  like  fable  than  like  history.  Architecture,  and  all  the 
arts  tributary  to  it,  received  the  same  surprising  impulse. 
Fortifications,  churches,  palaces,  streets,  all  bore  witness  to 
the  change  which  was  to  mark  this  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  Eternal  City  ;  and  now  it  was  decreed  that  the  modern 
St.  Peter's  should  come  into  the  place  of  the  edifice  which 
had  so  long  stood  on  that  site.  Nicolas  was  the  sovereign  of 
the  Papal  States,  and  in  his  hands  the  exercise  of  that  power 
was  wise  and  benignant.  But  he  never  forgot  that  liis  high- 
est rank  was  that  of  sovereign  pontiff;  and  by  all  this  en- 
couragement given  to  learning  and  art,  he  hoped  to  throw 
around  the  papal  power  a  new  dignity  and  prestige,  such  as 
should  compensate  in  some  measure  for  the  influence    it 


THE   DAWN.  557 

had  lost.    Ilis  successors,  indeed,  did  not  emulate  his  worth,   book  v. 

■'  ^  Chap.  2. 

In  them,  there  was  more  of  the  secular  prince  than  of  the     

chief  pastor.  Religion  had  little  place  in  their  thoughts. 
But  the  revival  of  letters  had  come  from  too  many  causes, 
and  drew  towards  itself  too  wide  a  sympathy,  to  be  depend- 
ent on  the  accidents  of  character  in  the  ruling  pontiffs.  Tlie 
feeling  which  had  thus  grown  up  in  Rome,  had  grown  up  in 
all  the  States  of  Italy.  Everywhere  scholars  gave  their 
days  and  nights  to  the  new  studies.  Every  home  of  the 
wealthy  became  a  place  of  meeting  for  such  men,  where  they 
compared  acquisitions,  exchanged  criticisms,  and  struck  out 
plans  for  the  future. 

Leo  X.  was  a  man  of  his  time.  Tlie  most  prominent  i^o  x. 
elements  in  Italian  life  were  embodied  in  his  character.  He 
was  a  decorous  pontiff,  if  compared  with  his  immediate  pre- 
decessors. But  he,  too,  was  much  more  prince  than  bishop. 
His  canonical  habits  did  not  sit  naturally  upon  him.  He 
dispensed  with  them  whenever  it  was  practicable.  In  the 
autumn,  he  always  made  his  escape  from  Rome,  and  fished, 
and  hunted,  and  hawked  with  the  gayest.  Accomplished 
men,  who  could  give  vivacity  to  his  table,  and  to  every- 
thing about  him,  were  always  near  his  person.  In  Rome, 
during  the  winter,  the  most  solemn  festivals  of  the  church 
were  interspersed  with  the  most  imposing  theatrical  per- 
formances. In  short,  the  court  of  Leo  X.  became  very  much 
what  the  court  of  Yersailles  was  to  become  two  centuries 
later.  N^ations  may  be  awed  for  awhile  by  such  splendour ; 
and  men  full  of  their  worldly  wisdom  learnt  to  persuade 
themselves  that  the  empire  of  the  church  might  be  served 
by  such  means.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  suspected  that 
a  state  of  things  so  opposed  to  all  that  we  know  of  primi- 
tive Christianity  might  provoke  dangerous  comparisons  ;  or 
that  the  intellectual  movement  which  had  called  forth  mul- 
titudes of  men  prepared  to  work  for  hire,  might  send  forth 
men  constrained  to  labour  in  the  higher  departments  of  in- 
telligence from  the  highest  motives. 

Such  results  were  the  more  probable,  from  the  fact  that  sceptid 
the  spirit  which  pervaded  this  revived  literature  and  art  the  fifteentii 

11  •    n  •  ...  century. 

proved  to  be  essentially  a  pagan  spirit.     When  we  come  to 


558  LAlf CASTER  AND  YORK. 

^Cu3  J'  *^^®  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  great  mission  of 

the  sculptor  and  of  the  artist  seems  to  be,  to  thrust  the  gods 

and  goddesses  of  the  old  heathenism  into  the  place  which 
had  been  filled  by  the  saint  and  the  martyr.  In  the  strug- 
gle which  ensues,  the  pagan  spirit  is  found  to  be  greatly 
stronger  than  the  Christian  spirit,  especially  in  the  case  of 
the  more  educated.  Multitudes,  not  a  few  of  whom  are 
ecclesiastics,  do  not  scruple  to  avow  that  they  are  content 
to  derive  their  notions  of  religion  from  the  source  which  has 
given  them  their  models  of  taste.  Through  the  half  cen- 
tury which  precedes  the  elevation  of  Leo  X.,  the  profession- 
alism of  the  church  of  Rome  is,  in  the  case  of  many,  only 
a  thin  covering  laid  over  the  most  materialized  scepticism. 
Priests  can  mingle  blasphemous  jests  with  their  religious 
services.  Men  pledged  to  uphold  the  Christian  religion,  can 
discourse  in  colleges,  and  reason  in  private,  to  show  that  the 
soul  is  not  immortal,  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  ensure  to 
it  a  higher  destiny  than  belongs  to  the  instinct  of  the  brute. 
In  fact,  the  man  is  accounted  as  one  loitering  behind  the 
age,  who  does  not  indulge  in  some  such  talk.  '  On  his 
death-bed  Cosmo  de'  Medici  is  attended  by  Ficinus,  who 
assures  him  of  another  life  on  the  autliority  of  Socrates,  and 
teaches  him  resignation  in  the  words  of  Plato,  Xenocrates, 
and  other  Athenian  sages.'  * 
Prospects  Sucli  is  the  dccay  of  faith  which  comes  along  with  a 

the  opening  general  corruption  of  manners,  in  the  quarter  where  faith  in 
teenthcen-  the  diviuc  oHgiu  of  Christianity  should  be  the  strongest, 
and  the  sanctity  proper  to  the  Christian  profession  the  most 
above  suspicion.  And  we  have  now  to  remember  that  the 
intelligence  of  the  age  is  showing  itself  to  be  an  irrepressible 
and  constantly  expanding  intelligence  ;  that  the  revival  of 
literary  criticism,  and  of  art  criticism,  is  of  necessity  insep- 
arable from  a  revival  of  criticism  on  questions  of  morals  and 
religion  ;  that  in  Bohemia,  in  Germany,  and  in  England — 
the  great  homes  of  the  Teutonic  race — there  is  no  sign  of 
religious  scepticism,  but  much  evidence  of  deep  religious 
earnestness ;    that  in  the  countries  of  these   peoples,  the 

*  Milman,  vi.  438.     Roscoe's  Pontificate  of  Leo  X.     Life  of  Lorenzo  de* 
Medici. 


THE  DAWN.  559 

vernacular  language  lias  become  so  formed,  as  to  ensure  that  ^^^^  J- 

there  will  soon  be,  not  only  a  powerful  literature,  but  a     

Bible  in  those  languages ;  that  for  centuries,  the  national 
feeling,  in  all  these  communities,  has  been  growing  strong- 
er, while  reverence  for  the  papacy — a  power  ah  extra  to  the 
nation — has  been  ceasing  more  and  more  to  be  what  it  once 
was.  At  this  same  juncture,  too,  which  witnesses  the  suc- 
cessful use  of  the  printing-press,  comes  the  matured  manufac- 
ture of  paper.  All  these  facts  combine  to  say,  that  the  curb 
which  has  been  laid  on  the  papal  power  in  the  past,  weighty 
as  it  may  have  been,  is  light  compared  with  that  which 
awaits  it ;  and  that  a  system  which  has  long  been  felt  as 
the  great  hindrance,  not  only  to  religion  and  virtue,  but  to 
national  independence,  and  to  social  progress  generally,  is 
about  to  disappear,  or  to  be  shut  up  to  limits  that  will  be 
new  in  its  history.  A  believing  Christendom,  subject  to  an 
infidel  popedom,  is  a  posture  of  affairs  that  can  hardly  be 
of  long  continuance. 

When  we  look,  indeed,  to  the  vast  numbers  of  the  clergy, 
including  all  the  religious  orders ;  to  the  immense  wealth 
— ^nearly  half  the  wealth  of  Europe — that  has  passed  into 
their  hands  ;  to  the  prejudice  and  interest  which  must  dis- 
pose such  men  to  resist  innovation  ;  to  the  many  influences 
for  good,  as  well  as  for  evil,  which  have  had  a  place  in  their 
history  ;  and  to  the  natural  slowness  of  mankind  in  seeing 
their  way  to  the  wisdom  of  any  great  change  in  regard  to 
religion — it  must  be  confessed  that  the  revolution  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe  which  seems  to  be  inevitable,  is  one  the 
course  and  issues  of  which  no  man  of  that  age  could  have 
ventured  to  predict.*  Spain  is  not  yet  free  from  her  domes- 
tic foe,  the  Moslem,  but  her  share  in  the  coming  struggle 
will  not  be  small.  Austria  may  be  expected  to  take  her 
place  by  the  side  of  Italy.     France  may  act  more  independ- 

*  The  anticipation  of  our  own  Wycliffe  on  this  subject  should  be  cited. 
Looking  to  the  future,  while  writing  his  Trialogus,  he  says,  '  I  imagine  that  some 
fraternity,  whom  God  shall  vouchsafe  to  teach,  will  be  devoutly  converted  to  the 
primitive  religion  of  Christ ;  and,  abandoning  their  false  interpretations  of  gen- 
uine Christianity,  after  having  claimed,  or  extorted  liberty  for  themselves  from 
Antichrist,  will  freely  return  to  the  religion  of  Christ  as  it  was  at  first,  and  then, 
they  will  build  up  the  church  like  Paul.' — Neander's  Reformation  Movements  in 
England.  Had  Luther  or  Melancthon  seen  this  prophecy,  they  might  have  had 
a  good  word  for  this  great  Englishman. 


560 


LANCASTER  AND  YORK. 


Ricliard 
III. 


BooK^v.  ently.     But  it  is  evidently  with  the  Teutons  of  Germany, 
England,  the  !N'etherlands,  and  the  I^orth,  that  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  old  Latin  empire  will  have  to  settle  the 
great  controversy  which  must  soon  arise. 

By  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  YII.,  Providence  had 
done  much  to  prepare  England  for  the  part  she  was  to  take 
in  the  new  world  about  to  open  upon  us.  Two  short  years 
sufficed  for  the  reign  of  Richard  III.  Sovereignty  so  ac- 
quired could  not  be  of  long  duration.  Whether  from  vanity 
or  from  penitence,  Richard  seemed  disposed  to  exercise  his 
authority,  in  the  main,  considerately  and  wisely.  But  men 
never  saw  him,  rarely  heard  his  name,  without  some  re- 
membrance of  the  judicial  murders  which  had  removed 
Rivers,  Grey,  and  others,  from  his  path ;  nor,  above  all, 
without  that  Tower  scene,  which  disposed  of  his  nephews, 
being  shadowed  in  some  form  in  the  distance.  The  country 
had  been  greatly  demoralized  by  war — 'by  civil  war ;  but 
the  crimes  of  Richard  III.  were  among  the  foulest  deeds  of 
those  bad  times,  and  it  was  felt  to  be  natural  and  fitting 
that  such  a  man  should  reap  as  he  had  sown.  What  the 
course  of  Richard  would  have  been  towards  the  church  is 
uncertain.  He  said  some  flattering  things  to  the  clergy, 
and  the  clergy  descended  to  flatter  him  in  return ;  *  but 
we  may  be  sure  that  his  ultimate  policy  would  have  been 
determined,  had  his  reign  been  prolonged,  by  his  vanity  or 
his  convenience,  much  more  than  by  any  graver  considera- 
tion. The  probability  is,  that  he  would  have  deemed  the 
good  offices  of  churchmen  of  too  much  importance  to  his  in- 
terests to  be  dispensed  with.  Complaints  against  ecclesias- 
tics might  be  heard  everywhere  :  but  the  views  of  the  men 
who  uttered  them  had  not  become  sufficiently  enlightened 
or  defined,  to  justify  a  king  in  courting  their  friendship,  at 
the  cost  of  incurring  the  enmity  of  men,  who,  in  a  sense, 
had  all  the  parishes  of  England  in  their  keeping. f 
Accession  On  the  death  of  Henry  Y.,  his  widow,  a  native  of  France, 

of  Tudor"^^  became  the  wife  of  Owen  Tudor,  a  gentleman  of  her  house- 

*  Wilkins,  Coyicilia^  v.  614. 

f  Sir  Thomas  More's  Life  and  Reign  of  Richard  III.  Life  and  Reign 
of  Richard  III,  by  George  Buck,  Esq.  'Hall's  Chronicle,  342-421.  Hol- 
linshed. 


THE   DAWN.  561 

hold,  and  a  native  of  Wales.  Tudor  had  three  sons  by  this  ^^^  ^'• 
marriage,  one  of  whom  died  early,  but  became  father  of 
Henry,  earl  of  Richmond,  afterwards  Henry  YII.  Eich- 
mond  had  been  introduced  to  Henry  YI.  when  a  boy,  and 
the  good  king  is  said  to  have  predicted  his  probable  acces- 
sion to  the  English  throne.  When  the  battle  of  Tewkes- 
bury destroyed  the  last  hope  of  the  Lancastrians,  Richmond 
was  fifteen  years  of  age.  It  was  deemed  wise  to  remove 
him  from  the  kingdom  ;  and  from  that  time  until  his  land- 
ing to  oppose  himself  to  Richard  IH.  he  had  been  resident 
in  Bretagne.  The  paternal  relationship  of  Richmond,  and 
his  being  so  little  known  in  this  country,  were  not  circum- 
stances in  his  favour.  But  the  men  opposed  to  Richard 
were  bent  upon  displacing  him,  and  there  was  no  other 
quarter  to  which  they  could  look  with  the  same  prospect  of 
success.  Tliey  were  men,  moreover,  who  had  learnt  to  ac- 
count it  an  advantage  that  the  king  should  not  be  allowed 
to  feel  himself  so  strong  as  to  be  tempted  to  assume  inde- 
pendence of  his  nobles.  Tliis  notion,  we  have  seen,  had 
been  the  source  of  incalculable  mischief  in  English  history 
during  the  last  hundred  years.  But  it  had  now  pretty 
nearly  done  its  work.  Henry  YII.  suffered  from  it.  He 
lived,  however,  to  frustrate  one  conspiracy  after  another ; 
and  putting  down,  with  a  strong  hand,  that  liveried  and 
armed  following  of  the  nobility,  which  had  served  to  make 
them  all  so  many  petty  kings,  he  left  the  English  throne  in 
a  much  more  stable  condition  than  he  found  it. 

Henry's  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Rule  of 
Edward  lY.,  no  doubt  contributed  largely  to  this  result. 
The  conflicting  claims  of  York  and  Lancaster  were  thus  har- 
monized in  his  person.  But  even  this  event  might  not  have 
sufficed  to  ensure  tranquillity,  apart  from  the  general  cau- 
tion and  ability  of  his  rule.  He  is  justly  described  as  a 
great  lover  of  money.  It  is  manifest  that  he  was  more  dis- 
posed to  levy  fines  upon  delinquents  than  to  send  them  to 
the  scaffold.  But  this  was  in  pursuance  of  his  general 
policy.  Though  not  wanting  in  courage  himself,  he  did  his 
utmost  to  discountenance  violence  and  bloodshed.  He  in- 
curred large  expense  that  his  subjects  might  be  gratified  in 
36 


5^  LANCASTER   AND   YORK. 

??iA?  J'   witnessing  tlie  show  and  pomp  of  war.     Tliis  was  all  done, 

however,  in  the  hope  of  weaning  them  from  the  reality,  and 

eventually  from  the  military  passion  altogether.  On  his 
accession,  England  had  long  been  in  danger  of  becoming 
another  Poland.  It  seemed  as  thougli  Englishmen  could 
settle  nothing  without  arms  in  their  hands.  All  the  higher 
interests  of  civilization  were  thus  in  peril.  The  reign  of 
Henry  YII.,  accordingly,  forms  an  ej)och  in  our  history. 
From  that  time  the  old  feudal  baron  is  no  more.  The 
modern  nobleman  is  about  to  come  into  his  place.  Rank  is 
to  possess  its  prestige  ;  wealth  is  to  retain  its  influence  ;  but 
intelligence  is  henceforth  to  be  the  great  power  in  national 
affairs.* 
His  cede-  I^  regard  to  religion,  the  policy  of  Henry  YH.  was 

poifcyf^  such,  on  the  whole,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  a 
sovereign  whose  habits  were  all  so  strictly  conservative. 
He  sustained  the  checks  which  had  been  opposed  to  the 
pretensions  of  the  papacy  by  the  statute  of  his  predecessors. 
But  he  was  careful  to  guard  against  disagreement  in  that 
quarter.  E^or  did  he  show  any  disposition  to  encourage 
the  party  who  would  willingly  have  made  some  inroad  on 
the  enormous  wealth  of  the  national  church.  In  ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs,  his  great  merit  was,  that  he  did  much  to  enforce 
greater  purity  and  consistency  of  living  among  tlie  clergy  ; 
and  his  great  fault  was,  that  he  allowed  that  class  of  men, 
scandalous  as  their  lives  often  were,  to  renew  the  persecu- 
tions of  former  years,  and  was  himself  at  times  a  party  to 
such  proceedings.  During  the  civil  wars,  so  great  were  the 
disorders  of  the  times,  that  considerable  latitude  seems  to 
have  been  allowed  to  the  expression  of  opinion.  But  such 
license  was  now  at  an  end.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  YII., 
many  persons  were  burnt  as  having  embraced  the  doctrines 
of  Wycliffe ;  and  great  numbers  in  London,  Amersham, 
Coventry,  and  other  places,  were  made  to  do 'public  pen- 
ance as  the  punishment  of  errors  of  that  nature  attributed 
to  them.  Twenty  thousand  people  were  sometimes  present 
at  scenes  of  this  description  ;  and  the  night  after  the  mar- 

*  Bacon's  Henry  VIL     Hall,  422  et  seq. 


THE   DAWN.  563 

tyrdom  of  a  woman  much  stricken  in  years,  named  Joan  ^^J]^^  J 

Boughton,  '  the  most  part  of  her  ashes '  is  said  to  have     

been  borne  away  from  Smithfield,  by  those  who  '  had  a  love 
unto  the  doctrine  she  died  for.'*  The  Lollards  might  well 
be  without  any  great  affection  for  the  memory  of  Heniy 
YII.  But  they  showed  no  sign  of  disloyalty  in  his  time. 
They  left  that  to  the  clergy  and  the  religious  orders,  some 
of  whom  were  concerned  in  every  imposture  and  conspira- 
cy directed  against  him.  Henry  punished  treason  in  the 
priest  with  imprisonment ;  for  heresy  in  the  laity,  whether 
in  man  or  woman,  he  allowed  a  heavier  penalty  to  be  in- 
flicted. But  to  Henry  YH.,  with  all  his  defects  and  faults, 
both  as  a  man  and  a  king,  England  owed  no  small  debt  of 
gratitude.  His  firm  and  sagacious  policy  sufficed  to  smooth 
the  way  for  the  great  transition  from  the  mediaeval  to  the 
modern  in  English  history.  And  with  this  great  change  in 
favour  of  law,  order,  and  comparative  refinement,  came 
the  seeds  of  change  in  much  beside.f 

*  Foxe,  bk.  v.     Wilkins,  Concilia,  iii.  616  et  seq.     Fabian,  529-535. 

f  Some  thirty  years  ago,  the  Paston  Letters  were  almost  our  only  documents 
throwing  any  considerable  and  direct  light  on  the  domestic  life  of  our  ancestors 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  Since  then,  the  different  associations  for  publishing 
ancient  writings,  the  Camden  Society,  Cheetham  Society,  Roxborough  Club,  &c., 
have  added  somewhat  to  our  means  of  knowledge  on  this  subject.  It  is  evident 
from  such  sources,  that  the  middle  and  the  gentry  class  of  that  age  were  in  general 
firm  believers  in  the  authority  assumed  by  the  priest  over  the  souls  of  the  living 
and  the  dead,  though,  from  many  causes,  their  relation  to  the  priest  was  by  no 
means  an  abject  relation.  Children  were  trained  to  great  reverence  for  their 
parents,  generally  addressing  their  father  as  '  worshipful ; '  and  wives  were  wont 
to  be  very  reverential  towards  their  husbands.  Parents  did  not  leave  the  moral 
and  religious  education  of  their  children  wholly  to  others.  It  were  better,  they 
sometimes  said,  to  see  them  buried  than  to  see  them  dishonoured.  Self-reliant 
and  honest  industry  was  of  great  price.  That  habit,  indeed,  seemed  to  be 
natural  to  the  mass  of  the  people  in  town  and  coimtry.  In  marriages,  affection 
no  doubt  had  its  place,  but  in  general  a  keen  eye  is  directed  towards  property. 
The  love  of  home  comfort  is  evidently  great,  and  men  and  women  seem  pre- 
pared, by  activity  and  forethought,  to  do  their  best  to  ensure  the  means  of  such 
comfort.  The  election  of  a  member  of  parliament  has  come  to  be  often  an 
exciting  scene ;  but  the  animosities  of  the  civil  wars  affect  the  upper  classes 
much  more  deeply  and  permanently  than  the  middle  or  the  lower.  Lawsuits  are 
abundant,  though  it  is  believed  that  judges  are  not  always  pure,  and  places  are 
often  known  to  be  bought.  Organization  is  appreciated.  Energy  to  act  with- 
out it  is  not  wanting.  So  some  of  the  germs  of  the  present  may  be  seen  in  the 
past.  In  England,  even  in  the  worst  times,  the  industrial  power  of  the  people 
.«eems  destined  to  be  strong. 

END   OF   VOL.    I. 


D.  Appleton  &  Go's  Publications. 


HISTORICAL  WORKS. 


Arnold's  History  of  the  State  of  Rliode  Island  and  Provi- 

dence  Plantations.     Vol.  1  (1636— 1*700.)     8vo.    Cloth,  $2  50. 

History  of  Rome.     1  large  8vo.  vol.     Cloth.      $3. 

Lectures  on  Modern  History.     12mo.     Cloth.    $1  25. 

Benton's  Ihirty  Years'  View  ;  or^  a  History  of  the   Working 

of  the  American  Government  for  Thirty  Years,  from  1820  to  1850.     2  vols.,  8vo. 

New  edition,  $5. 

Abridgment  of  the  Debates  of  Congress,  from  1789  to  1856.     From  Gales  and 


Seaton's  Annals  of  Congress ;  from    their  Register  of  Debates ;   and  from  the 

Official  Reported  Debates,   by  John  C.  Rives.     By  the  Author  of  "  The  Thirty 

Years'  View."     Vols.  I.  to  XI.  (to  be  completed  in  15  vols. — published  by  Sub- 
scription.)    Cloth,  per  vol.,  $3. 

Bridgman^  T.      Tlie  Pilgrims  of  Boston  and  their  Descend- 

ants;  with  an  Introduction  by  Hon.  Edwaud  Everett.     1  vol.  8vo.     Illustrated 
with  portraits,  armorial  bearings,  <fec.     Cloth,  $3., 

BucMe's  History  of  Civilization  in  England.     1  large  vol. 

8vo.     With  a  complete  index  (not  published  in  the  English  editioa)    Cloth,  §2  50. 
Vol,  2,  (in  press.) 

Burnett  {Bishop.^     History  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Church 

of  England.     Cheap  edition.     3  vols.  large  Svo.     Half  calf,  $2  50. 

JBurnett^  Jacoh.     Notes  on  the  Early  Settlement  of  the  Nortli- 

Western  Territory.     1  vol.  Svo.     Cloth,  $2. 

Calhoun  {J.  C.)     The  Works  of  (now  first  collected,)  6  vols. 

Svo.     Per  vol.,  $2. 

■    ■ Sold  separately,  in  Cloi.h  : 

Vol.   1.  Ox    GOVERNMEXT. 

"    2.         Reports  axd  Letters. 

"    3,  4.     Speeches. 

"    5,  6.     Rkports  and  Letters, 

Or,  in  6  vols.     Sheep,  .$15. 

"         "  Half  calf,  820. 

Full  Calf,  $24. 

Creasy  (Prof)  K  A.     The  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  English 

Constitution.     Third  edition,  re-\ased,  and  with  additions.     12mo.     Cloth,  $1. 


D.  Appleton  &  Co.''s  Publications. 


HISTORICAL  WORKS. 


Deiv^  T.     A   Digest  of  the  Laws^    Customs^  Manners^  and 

Institutions  of  the  Ancient  and  Modern  Nations.     By  Professor  T.  Dew.     1  vol. 

8vo.     Cloth,  $2. 

Gihhes^  R,    W.       Documentary   History   of  the  American 

Revolution  :  consisting  of  Letters  and  Papers  relating  to  the  contest  for  Liberty, 
chiefly  in  South  Carolina.  By  E.  W.  Gibbes,  M.  D.  Vol.  L,  1'764-17'76.  ;  vol.  II , 
1'7'76-1'782;  vol.  IIL,  1781-1782.     In  3  vols.  8vo.     Cloth.     Each  $1  50. 

Grisivold^  R,    W,     The   Re]juhlican   Court ^   or^  American 

Society  in  the  Days  of  Washington.  With  21  fine  Steel  Portraits  of  distinguished 
Women.  New  and  revised  edition.  1  handsome  vol.  royal  8vo.,  in  morocco  an- 
tique, $12. 

Guizot^  M.     General  History  of  Civilization  in  Eur o])e, from 

the  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  French  Revolution.    Translated  from  the 

French  of  M.  Guizot.     With  Notes,  by  C.  S.  Hexry,  D.  D.     12mo.     Cloth,  %\. 
The  History  of  Civilization,  from  the  Fall   of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the 

French  Revolution.      By  M.  Guizot.     Translated  by  ^W.  Hazlitt.    4  vols.  12mo. 

Cloth,  $3  50. 
Or,  in  half  calf,  extra,  $6. 

Hair s  History  of  Eastern  Vermont  1  large  vol.  8vo.  $3  50. 
Hamilton  :  The  History  of  the  United  States^  as  traced  in  the 

Writings  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  Edited  by  his  Son.  Vols.  L,  II.,  III.  and  IV. 
Price  $2  50  each. 

Hidl  (^Gen.)    Wm.     The  Hevolidionary  Services  and  Civil 

Life  of  Gen.  William  Hull,  from  1775  to  1805.     1  vol.  8vo.     Cloth,  $2. 

Hunt,  F.  W.  Pantological  System  of  History.  A  Pano- 
ramic View  of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  Nations  and  States  in  their  History, 
Chronology,  Colonization,  Government,  Legislation,  Jurisprudence,  Biography, 
Politics,  <&c.  Part  I.  Historical  Atlas  of  the  American  States.  [I.  Eastern  States. 
II.  The  National  Government  and  the  Southern  States.  III.  The  Mississippi  Val- 
ley.    IV.  The  Far  West.]     By  F.  W.  Hunt.     Large  folio.     Cloth,  $3. 

KohlrausclH s  Complete  History  of  Germany.     8vo.     Cloth, 

f  1  50. 

Lamartine^s  History  of  Till k^]/.     :>  vols.    12mo.,  $3. 
Macaiday^   T.  B,     Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Essays,     By 

T.  B.  M.\CAULAY.     New  and  revised  edition.     5  vols,  small  Svo.     Cloth,  $3  75. 
Biographical  and  Historical  Sketches.     [Forming  vol.  6  of  his  Miscellaneous 

Essays.]     By  T.  B.  Macaulay.     12mo.     Cloth,  75  cents. 
Or,  cheaper  edition,  fancy  boards,  50  cents. 


D.  Ayiileton  &  Coh  PuUicatiom. 


HISTORICAL  WORKS. 

MalioiUs  {Lord)  History  of  England,     Edited  by  Professor 

Reed.     2  vols.  8vo.  $4. 

MicheMs  History  of  France.   2  vols.    8vo.    $3  50. 
O'Callaglian,  E,  B,     History  of  New  Netherlands]  or^  New 

York  under  the  Dutch.  2  vols.  8vo.,  accompanied  with  a  fac-simile  of  the  Origi- 
nal Map  of  New  Netherlands,  &c.     Cloth,  $4. 

PattoiUs  (J.  H.)  History  of  the  United  States.     1  vol.  8vo. 

$3  50.     (Published  by  Subscription.) 

Sprague's  History  of  the  Florida  War.    1vol.    8vo.     $2  50. 
Taylor'' s  Manual  of  Ancient  and  Modern  History.  Edited  by 

Prof.  Henry.    1  vol. '  8vo.     Cloth,  $2  25. 

Modern  History.   Separate.  $L  50. 

Ancient  History.         "  $1  25. 

Thiers'  History  of  the  French  Revolution.     New    edition. 

With  steel  Engravings.     4  Vols.     Cloth.    $5. 

TJie  History  of  Herodotus,    Anew  English  version.     Edited 

with  copious  Notes  and  Appendices,  illustrating  the  History  and  Geography  of 
Herodotus,  from  the  Most  Recent  Sources  of  Information,  and  embodying  the  chief 
results,  Historical  and  Ethnographical,  which  have  been  obtained  in  the  progress 
of  Cuneiform  and  Hieroglyphical  discovery.  By  George  Raw^linsox,  M.A.,  assisted 
by  Col.  Henry  Rawlixson  and  Sir  J.  G.  Wilkinson,  F.  R.  S.  Vols.  I.  and  II.  just 
published.     To  be  completed  in  four  volumes,  with  Maps  and  Illustrations,    A2  50. 

The  ^yoTld  in  the  Midle  Ages.     An  Historical  Geography, 

with  accounts  of  the  Origin  and  Development,  the  Institutions  and  Literature,  the 
Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Nations  in  Europe,  Western  Asia,  and  Northern 
Africa,  from  the  close  of  the  Fourth  to  the  middle  of  the  Fifteenth  Century, 
accompanied  by  complete  Historical  and  Geographical  Indices,  and  an  Atlas  of 
colored  maps.     By  Professor  A.  L.  Kceppen.     1  vol.  folio.     Half  morocco,  $4  50. 

The  Atlas,  separate,  cloth,  $2  50. 

The  text,  separate,  2  vols.,  12mo.,  cloth,  .^2  50.  ^ 

White's  History  of  France.    From  the  earliest  times  to  1848. 

By  Rev.  James  White.     1  vol.  8vo.    s  :. 

Whitehead's    Contributions  to  the   harly  Histoj'y  of  Perth 

Amboy,  and  Adjacent  Country.     8vo.    Maps  and  Illustrations.     $2  Y5. 
Index  to  New  Jersey  Colonial  Documents.     1  vol.     ^3. 


D.  Appleton  &  Co.''8  Publications. 


HISTORY     OF     FRANCE, 

From  the  Earliest  rimes  to  MDCCCXLFIIL 

By  the  JREV.  JAxHES  ^VHITE, 

J^nthor   of  tlie   "  Kigliteen   Christian   Centuries." 
ONE  VOLUME,  OCTAVO.    571  PAGE'S.    $2. 

This  History  aims  at  something  higher  than  a  mere  epitome  of  events.  "While  it 
gives  the  results  from  its  author's  mind  of  his  various  reading  rather  than  the  abstracts 
of  what  lie  read,  it  yet  devotes  sufficient  space  to  any  occurrences  which  seem  to  have 
a  general  bearing  on  the  progress  or  character  of  the  nation. 

It  is  believed  to  be  more  especially  adapted  to  the  benefit  of  general  readers  who 
are  anxious  for  historical  as  well  as  other  kinds  of  knowledge,  but  who,  in  respect  to 
tne  History  of  France,  are  repelled  from  the  attempt  to  acquire  it  by  the  dryness  of  the 
narnitive  and  the  uninteresting  style  of  the  smaller  volumes  devoted  to  the  subject,  and 
by  the  time  and  labor  required  for  the  perusal  of  the  more  extensive  and  valuable 
works. 

This  book  has  had  the  highest  commendation  from  the  British  critical  press 
generally. 

Speaking  of  its  conciseness  and  attractive  style,  the  Athenasum  says  :  "  Its  600 
pages  contain  every  leading  incident  worth  the  telling,  and  abound  in  word  painting, 
whereof  a  paragraph  has  often  as  much  active  life  in  it  as  one  of  those  inch-square  etch- 
ings of  the  great  Callot,  in  which  maybe  clearly  seen  whole  armies  contending  in 
bloody  arbitrament,  and  as  many  incidents  of  battle  as  may  be  gazed  at  in  the  mile's  of 
canvass  in  the  military  picture  galleries  at  Versailles.  *  "*  Especially  skilful  is  Mr. 
WniTE  in  the  depicting  of  the  great  revolutions  of  France,  and  their  consequences." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  HERODOTUS. 

A  KEW  ENGLISH  VERSION,  EDITED  WITH  COPIOUS  NOTES  AND  APPENDICES, 
ILLUSTRATING  THE  HISTORY  AND  GEOGRAPHY  OF  HERODOTUS,  FROM 
THE  MOST  RECENT  SOURCES  OF  .INFORMATION ;  AND  EMBODYING  THE 
CHIEF  RESULTS,  HISTORICAL  AND  ETHNOGRAPHICAL,  WHICH  HAVE 
BEEN  OBTAINED  IN  THE  PROGRESS  OF  CUNEIFORM  AND  HIKROGLYPH- 
ICAL  DI-COVERY.  BY  GEORGE  RAWLINSON,  M.  A.,  LATE  FELLOW  AND 
TUTOR  OF  EXETER  COLLEGE.  OXFORD,  ASSISTED  BY  COL.  SIR  HENRY 
RAWLINSON,  K.  0.  B.,  AND  SIR  J.  G.  WILKINSON,  F.  R.  S.  WITH  MAPS  AND 
ILLUSTRATIONS.    FOUR  VOLUMES,  OCTAVO.    $10. 

The  object  of  this  work  is  to  present  the  English  reader  with  a  correct  yet  free 
translation,  and  to  collect  and  methodize  the  chief  illustrations  of  tiie  author,  which 
modern  learning  and  research  have  accumulated.  Parallel  with  the  progress  of  the 
work,  a  series  of  fresh  discoveries  have  been  made  upon  its  (to  us)  more  important  sub- 
jects—the  ethnoirraphy  of  the  ICast,  and  the  history  and  geography  of  Babylonia  and 
Assyria.  The  results  of  these  discoveries,  up  to  the  latest,  have  been  incorporated  in 
the  Illustrative  part  of  the  work— great  purt  of  it  having  been  from  time  to  time  re-writ- 
ten, as  new  light  has  been  thrown  upon  doubtful  points. 

This  feature,  together  with  the  labor  of  scholarship  j'iven  to  the  task,  renders  the 
work  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  erudite  of  modern  publications. 


^K  INITIAL  ^^llOTj^ol^"" 
:rv'-ro''™%-o   ON  "^  sevesTH   o.v 

OVERDUE. 


l_1007n-7,'39(402s) 


/ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


mmmmm'W<<- 


!H>i>*j't?;;:-;n>;'i->;!>j>5!i»>';!i*>;;'i!. 


